Polls open in Gambia

Gambians hope election day will pass peacefully

Gambians have begun voting in presidential elections following a vigorous campaign marred by violence that left at least one opposition supporter dead.

Five candidates are contesting the elections which observers have described as a test of President Yahya Jammeh's commitment to democratic reforms.

Candidates

President Yahya Jammeh - Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction

Ousainou Darboe - Three-party opposition alliance

Sherriff Mustapha Dibba - National Convention Party

Hamat Bah - National Reconstruction Party

Sidia Jatta - People's Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism

Reports say voting started at 0700GMT on Thursday morning with long queues of people waiting patiently to cast their vote, before the polls close at 1400 GMT.

The BBC's Mark Doyle says the election is likely to be the closest run race in the country's history.

It sees the current president, the leader of a military coup in 1994, being opposed by a civilian coalition opposed to any vestige of military rule.

Main Challenge

The coalition is led by a lawyer, Ousainou Darboe, who is understood to pose the main challenge.

Thursday's election is the first truly multi-party vote following the lifting in July of a ban on political parties which Mr Jammeh imposed soon after his coup.

Violence has been a theme of the campaign

On the eve of polling, the opposition scored a victory when the electoral commission accepted a demand that only people who appear on the electoral roll will be entitled to vote.

Demands for a change in the regulations - which previously allowed voters to only show their identity cards - had been made by the main opposition coalition.

Sources close to President Jammeh say his governing party has taken issue with the ruling, and still hopes to get it overturned.

Reuters news agency says the police on Wednesday evening issued a statement in which it made claims of a plot to disrupt the elections.

Police say they will crush anyone disrupting election

But, the statement went on: " The security forces are fully alert and will swiftly crush any act that threatens the peace and stability of the Gambia".

Correspondents say that following the campaign violence, which also saw an arson attack on the house of a ruling party MP, Gambians are praying that election day in this normally sleepy holiday resort will pass peacefully.