Risch, Durbin, Leahy, Members Introduce Bipartisan Resolution to Support Upcoming Presidential Election in The Gambia

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Senate Majority Whip, Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, along with Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy, and John Boozman (R-Ark.), today introduced a bipartisan resolution expressing support for a free, fair, and peaceful December 4, 2021, presidential election in The Gambia. The upcoming election will be the first presidential election since longtime autocrat Yayha Jammeh lost his reelection bid in 2016.

“Gambia’s December 4 presidential elections serve as a crucial milestone in the country’s democratic transition and have the potential to validate that Gambians reject sliding backwards toward the brutality, madness, and dysfunction Yayha Jammeh forced upon them for decades,” said Risch. “This resolution is an affirmation of the United States’ commitment to the Gambian people as they enter into these historic presidential elections, continue to work towards building a stronger democracy, and reckon with the abuses and crimes of the past.”

Full text of the resolution is available here.

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