The Gambia is a multi-party democratic republic. In 2011 voters re-elected President Alhaji Yahya Jammeh to a fourth term in a peaceful, orderly election; however, international observers criticized it as neither free nor fair. President Jammeh's party, the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC), continued to dominate the political landscape, winning an overwhelming majority of National Assembly seats in the parliamentary elections in March 2012 and in the local government elections held on April 4, 2013. Six of the seven opposition parties boycotted or otherwise did not participate in both the national assembly and local government elections to protest government intervention and intimidation of opponents. Authorities at times failed to maintain effective control over the security forces. Security forces committed human rights abuses. The most serious human rights problems in the country included government interference with the electoral process; government harassment and abuse of its critics; and torture, arrest, detention, and sometimes enforced disappearance of citizens. Government officials routinely used various methods of intimidation to retain power. Other reported human rights problems included poor prison conditions; denial of due process; prolonged pretrial and incommunicado detention; restrictions on privacy and freedoms of speech, press, and assembly; violence against women and girls, including female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C); forced child marriage; trafficking in persons; child prostitution; discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals; and child labor. While the government took steps to prosecute or punish some individuals who committed abuses, impunity and lack of sustained enforcement remained problems.
