How did Gambia's president lose his marbles?
The West African nation just held a landmark presidential election, but instead of ballots, they cast their votes with marbles. Here's how they did it, in seven photos.
![The tiny African country voted against maintaining the 22-year long reign of "His Excellency Sheikh, Professor, al-Haji, Doctor Yahya AJJ Jammeh." The tiny African country voted against maintaining the 22-year long reign of "His Excellency Sheikh, Professor, al-Haji, Doctor Yahya AJJ Jammeh."](https://cdn-i.pr.trt.com.tr/trtworld/w664/h374/q70/0m_3933-trtworld-243627-279443.jpg)
The tiny African country voted against maintaining the 22-year long reign of "His Excellency Sheikh, Professor, al-Haji, Doctor Yahya AJJ Jammeh."
Gambia just voted in a new leader after 22 years under the control of "His Excellency Sheikh, Professor, al-Haji, Doctor Yahya AJJ Jammeh". Here's how the nation cast their 'ballot'.
![](https://cdn-i.pr.trt.com.tr/trtworld/w664/h374/q70/0m_3933-trtworld-gallery-243627-279399.jpg)
Gambians registered at polling stations throughout the tiny West African Nation. Each voter was given a single marble to cast their vote.
![](https://cdn-i.pr.trt.com.tr/trtworld/w664/h374/q70/0m_3933-trtworld-gallery-243627-279407.jpg)
The voters deposited their marble into one of three metal canisters, each one plastered with a candidates photo.
![](https://cdn-i.pr.trt.com.tr/trtworld/w664/h374/q70/0m_3933-trtworld-gallery-243627-279400.jpg)
An election official then placed plastic zip-tie seals on the 'ballot boxes' to prevent tampering, before they were transported to an Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) office.
![](https://cdn-i.pr.trt.com.tr/trtworld/w664/h374/q70/0m_3933-trtworld-gallery-243627-279402.jpg)
At the IEC office, the canisters were opened and the marbles dumped into carrier crates destined for the counting office.
![](https://cdn-i.pr.trt.com.tr/trtworld/w664/h374/q70/0m_3933-trtworld-gallery-243627-279441.jpg)
Each marble was then placed by hand into counting trays.
![](https://cdn-i.pr.trt.com.tr/trtworld/w664/h374/q70/0m_3933-trtworld-gallery-243627-279401.jpg)
Each tray was set up in a 10 x 20 grid and held 200 marbles total.
![](https://cdn-i.pr.trt.com.tr/trtworld/w664/h374/q70/0m_3933-trtworld-gallery-243627-279442.jpg)
The president of Gambia's Independent Electoral Commission, Alieu Momarr Mjiar, announced the presidential election results on Friday. The winner of the marble count was president-elect Adama Barrow.