Gambia Elections 2016 loser acceptance
By: V-Dem Staff
Feb 06, 2017
Jammeh first accepted the results, then reversed course and refused to step down. It was not until military intervention by other of the West African states that Barrow was able to take office. This week’s graph looks at V-Dem’s variable measuring whether or not the losers of elections accept results in The Gambia.
By using the V-Dem Online Analysis Tool and the “Elections Losers Accept Result” variable, we can examine how this phenomenon has changed over the past several decades. The variable measures the level of acceptance on a scale from 0-4, where 4 represents that all losing candidates or parties accepted the results; and 0 means that none of the losing candidates or parties accepted the results. The Gambia has experienced a drastic decrease of this acceptance rate since the 1990s. Prior to this, the People´s Progressive Party (PPP) dominated elections without the other parties challenging the results. In 1994, President Jammeh came to power following a coup and subsequently abolished presidential term limits in 2002. Consequently, some opposition parties did not accept the results of various elections, as reflected in the graph. The acceptance rates for the 2016 election will soon be available with the next V-Dem data update.
To learn more about elections in The Gambia, or in any other country, use the V-Dem Online Analysis Tool on V-Dem.net.
