Before the coup d'état in July 1994, The Gambia was one of the oldest existing multi-party democracies in Africa. It had conducted freely contested elections every 5 years since independence. After the military coup, politicians from deposed President Jawara's [[People's Progressive Party]] (PPP) and other senior government officials were banned from participating in politics until [[July]] [[2001]].
Following the coup in July [[19941992]], a presidential [[Elections_in_the_Gambia|election]] took place in [[September]] [[1996]], in which retired Col. [[Jahya A.J.J. Jammeh]] won 56% of the vote. Four registered opposition parties participated in the [[October 18]], 2001, presidential election, which the incumbent, President Yahya Jammeh, won with almost 53% of the votes. The APRC maintained its strong majority in the [[National Assembly]] in legislative elections held in January 2002, particularly after the main opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) boycotted the legislative elections.
