The Gambia President Yahya Jammeh, who has been in office for more than two decades, has warned that even peaceful protests will not be permitted after the upcoming election.

On Thursday, more than 880,000 registered voters will head to more than 1,400 polling stations around the country whose population is around 1.9 million.

President Jammeh, 51, who took control of the West African country in 1994, said on Tuesday that his victory in the election is all but assured with divine intervention, and warned the opposition against protesting.

"Our election system is fraud-proof, rig-proof, you cannot rig our elections," he said. "There is no reason that anybody should demonstrate."

Demonstrations will not be allowed "because those are the loopholes that are used to destabilise African governments", he said.

Voters will use marbles, placing them into green, silver and purple ballot drums, which will be counted on the spot using wooden tablets.

Observers from the European Union and the West African regional bloc ECOWAS are not attending the election but the African Union will send a handful of observers.

Jammeh faces off against Adama Barrow, a former businessman and United Democratic Party leader, who emerged as the candidate for an alliance of eight opposition parties.

Former ruling party deputy Mama Kandeh is running for the Gambia Democratic Congress, the only opposition party not in the coalition.

READ MORE: Amnesty accuses The Gambia government of brutal repression

Security forces arrested dozens in April and May after protests calling for electoral and political reforms.

Two main opposition party members died in detention after the protests, and 15 opposition supporters are now serving three-year prison sentences.

Jammeh came to power in a coup in 1994, and then swept elections in 1996, 2001, 2006 and 2011, after a 2002 constitutional amendment removed presidential term limits.

Critics, though, say those elections were not free and fair, and they accuse his regime of corruption and human rights abuses.

The Gambia has seen a large exodus of its citizens trying to migrate to Europe on dangerous water routes in recent years.

Jammeh says such migration is a matter of choice, and that Gambians do not leave because of poverty.

'Tyranny of the regime'

His supporters praise his efforts to boost economic development in the tiny country that is dependent on tourism and agriculture.

"He has built the airport, schools, medical facilities and buildings," said 50-year-old Pinta Manneh.

But Omar Amadou Jallow, an opposition leader for the People's Progressive Party, which joined the coalition, agreed that this is the year for change.

"For 22 years, we have realised that Gambia has been turned into a prison; the arrests, the tensions, the torture and many of our people have gone into exile," he said.

"That shows the tyranny of the regime. We are going to give people their freedoms, their liberties. That is more important than anything else."</s>Authorities in Gambia must take all appropriate measures to ensure that forthcoming elections – including the period following the results - are held in a climate that is free from violence and which fully respects the right of all people to freely express their views, Amnesty International said today.

"The thousands of Gambians who have taken part in rallies for all candidates over the last two weeks is a remarkable sign of how precious the right to freedom of expression is in a country where it has been so rarely permitted,” said Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for West and Central Africa.

“But it is crucial that these glimmers of freedom do not end after the votes are counted, and this is no time for complacency. Dozens of people remain behind bars in Gambia simply for expressing their opinion, and journalists, human rights defenders and civil society organizations still fear reprisals for speaking out. Gambians are claiming their rights, and whoever is elected must ensure they are respected.”

On Thursday 1 December, 2016, there will be presidential elections in Gambia. Amnesty International’s absolute focus is monitoring and advocating for the protection and promotion of human rights, particularly the right to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly before, during and after the elections.

The organization does not evaluate whether an election is free or fair. However, given the consistent pattern of human rights violations in Gambia, as well as the authorities’ failure to respect the country’s obligations under international and regional human rights treaties to which the government has subscribed, Amnesty International may comment on the human rights context of the elections.</s>In response to blocks on the internet and other communications networks in Gambia amid today’s presidential election, Samira Daoud, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for West and Central Africa said:

“This is an unjustified and crude attack on the right to freedom of expression in Gambia, with mobile internet services and text messaging cut off on polling day,”

“Shutting down these communication networks shatters the illusion of freedom that had emerged during the two weeks period of the electoral campaign, when restrictions appeared to have been eased. This alarming move suggests a return to repression and censorship that has been the hallmark of President Jammeh’s 22-year rule.”

“Blocks on the internet and other communications networks amount to a flagrant violation of the right to freedom of expression and access to information. The same rights that people have offline must also be protected online."

To read Amnesty International’s latest statement on elections in Gambia:https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/11/gambia-freedom-of-expression-must-not-end-after-votes-are-counted/</s>Banjul. Gambian President Yahya Jammeh said Tuesday that no protests would be permitted after a two-week electoral campaign, as rallies in favour of opposition leader Adama Barrow reached boiling point in the capital, Banjul.

A day of opposition protests ahead of a presidential election in two days’ time highlighted deep divisions over Jammeh’s 22-year-rule, while the president took the opportunity to say his opponents could not succeed.

Barrow, a businessman, emerged from obscurity to become the flagbearer of all The Gambia’s opposition parties bar one after mass arrests of supporters from the largest anti-government grouping in April.

“People have shown us tremendous support. With that support we are 100 percent plus that we are going to win and with a big margin,” he told AFP on the final day of the campaign. With no official opinion polls, it is difficult to corroborate Barrow’s claim, but diplomatic sources have indicated in recent days that Jammeh faces his most significant challenge since taking power in a 1994 coup.

“If Jammeh wants advice if he loses, let him accept the will of the people and accept the value of the Gambian people,” Barrow said.

Rights bodies and media watchdogs including Reporters Without Borders (RSF) accuse Jammeh of cultivating a “pervasive climate of fear” and of crushing dissent against his regime, one cause of the mass exodus of Gambian youths to Europe.

At a rally near the capital Tuesday, people shouted “Step down!” as they waved red cards demanding Jammeh’s removal after 22 years in power. “He killed dozens of our brothers, he’s a killer,” one man shouted. (AFP)</s>Banjul (Gambia) (AFP) - Gambian President Yahya Jammeh faces the biggest threat to his 22-year rule Thursday as the country heads to the polls following two weeks of unprecedented rallies by an energised opposition.

Some 880,000 Gambians will be eligible to vote when more than 1,400 polling stations open at 0800 GMT in an election overshadowed by an internet blackout in a nation long accused by rights groups of suppressing freedom of expression.

The winner will serve a five-year term in The Gambia, a tiny former British colony in west Africa which occupies a narrow sliver of land surrounded by French-speaking Senegal.

Jammeh is running for a fifth term in office with his ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC).

He faces previously unknown businessman Adama Barrow, chosen as a flagbearer by seven Gambian political parties and an independent candidate who have joined forces for the first time to form a coalition with unprecedented support.

A third candidate, former ruling party MP Mama Kandeh, is also standing for the Gambian Democratic Congress (GDC).

At his final rally on Tuesday night, Jammeh said he was looking forward to ramping up development in a country that "will move faster than it has in 22 years," but he also warned that protests over Thursday's result would not be tolerated.

The Gambia's unique voting system, which sees citizens vote by dropping a marble into a coloured drum for their candidate, could not be rigged, he added, meaning "there is no reason for anybody to protest."

Rights group Amnesty International urged the authorities to ensure that the election and post-electoral period "are held in a climate that is free from violence and which fully respects the right of all people to freely express their views."

Internet was down from around 8.15 pm (2015 GMT) on the eve of the vote, an AFP journalist said, following warnings of an election day blackout from the US embassy.

Popular private voice and messaging apps such as Whatsapp, Skype and Viber are unreachable without a Virtual Private Network (VPN), software many Gambians use to work around the problem.

The opposition relies on messaging applications and texts to organise mobile rallies that have seen roads blocked repeatedly over the last week around Banjul as demonstrations outgrow planned venues.

"People have shown us tremendous support. With that support we are 100 percent plus that we are going to win and with a big margin," Barrow told AFP on Tuesday, the final day of campaigning.

Barrow was chosen after several leaders with the opposition United Democratic Party (UDC) were jailed in July for holding peaceful protests, one of which was organised to protest the death in custody of a party member.

If Barrow were to win -- a tall order both in terms of votes and the likelihood of Jammeh giving up power -- he would likely serve a three-year term at the head of a transition reform government.

There will be no professional international observers present, diplomats confirmed to AFP Wednesday, but a small team of African Union experts will monitor events along with Banjul-based US and European delegations already present in the country.

Jammeh seized power in a 1994 coup and has targeted opponents and several of his own ministers in recent years, while surviving multiple attempts to remove him from power.

In the months prior to the vote, a former minister, an MP who formerly belonged to the ruling party and two journalists with the state broadcaster have been detained.

Significant progress has been made in the last 20 years in improving literacy and child mortality rates, and the president has in the last year banned child marriage and female genital mutilation.

But 60 percent of the population live in poverty, and a third survive on $1.25 (1.20 euro) or less a day, according to the UN.

Gambians make up the largest group per capita of migrants arriving in Italy after making the perilous crossing by sea from north Africa, figures from the International Organization for Migration show.
Elections are held in The Gambia.