iStock/Thinkstock(BANJUL, Gambia) — Africa’s smallest country, Gambia, held a presidential election on December 1. The country’s president, Yahya Jammeh, received 36.7 percent of the vote, while property developer Adama Burrow won more than 45 percent of the vote.
The day after the election, President Jammeh, who has ruled the tiny nation of two million people since 1994, went on state television to wish Barrow well, calling him “the elected president of the Gambia.”
On Friday, however, Jammeh took to the airwaves to take back his earlier concession, according to BBC News.
“I lament serious and unacceptable abnormalities which have reportedly transpired during the electoral process,” Jammeh said on state TV. “I recommend fresh and transparent elections which will be officiated by a God-fearing and independent electoral commission.”
In a statement, U.S. State Department spokesperson Mark Toner called the reversal “a reprehensible and unacceptable breach of faith with the people of the Gambia and an egregious attempt to undermine a credible election process and remain in power illegitimately.”
The statement called upon all institutions in the country to reject violence and peacefully uphold the will of the people.
If the election results stand, Barrow is meant to take office in late January.
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