Gambia's Jammeh wins presidential elections

Gambia's Yahya Jammeh won a landslide re-election to serve a fourth term at the helm of the tiny African state in presidential polls slammed by the opposition as bogus and fraudulent, the AFP reports.

Thousands of citizens and soldiers swarmed into the capital of continental Africa's smallest nation to celebrate the victory of the 46-year-old former military officer with a 72 percent share of the votes.

"I hereby declare President Jammeh the winner of the 2011 presidential election," said polls chief Mustapha Carayol after announcing the final results.

The incumbent's main challenger Ousainou Darboe, 63, won 17 percent of votes in his fourth shot at the presidency while a third candidate Hamat Bah, 51, had 11 percent. Voter turnout was 83 percent of 800,000 voters.

Jammeh, a devout Muslim, said his win was a foregone conclusion and neither an election nor a coup could remove him from power -- only God.