Election: President Yahya Jammeh Banned Internet and international calls * Seeks fifth term in offic

President Yahya Jammeh of Gambia has banned the internet and international phone calls as presidential elections are held in the West African state.

Officials have also banned demonstrations to prevent unrest after the elections.

Estate agent Adama Barrow is challenging President Yahya Jammeh, who says divine intervention will give him a fifth term.

The Gambia has not had a smooth transfer of power since independence.

Meanwhile, After 22 years at the helm of a tiny West African nation that he’s determined to turn into an Islamic republic, Gambian President Yahya Jammeh is seeking a fifth term in elections on Thursday.

Jammeh, who came to power in a 1994 coup, toured the country extensively in the run-up to the vote, promising to build roads, clinics and schools. Having declared Gambia officially an Islamic republic early last year, he carried a copy of the Quran on the campaign trail and told voters to follow the commandments of God.

“I want to make it categorically clear that I will carry out my promise to turn the Gambia into a truly Islamic state,” Jammeh, 51, said on Tuesday as he addressed a crowd in the capital, Banjul, without saying how he’ll do that. The election will also help to “separate patriotic citizens from Western stooges,” he said last week.

His main challenger is Adama Barrow, who took over as head of the United Democratic Party after its leader, Ousainou Darboe, received a three-year prison sentence in July for organising a rare protest march. Barrow now leads a coalition of opposition parties and has pledged to appoint a transitional government if he wins.

“Essentially, the election will be a sham,” Sean Smith, Africa analyst at Bath, UK-based risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft, said in an emailed response to questions. “It’s impossible for there to be a level playing field when state officials frequently arrest and torture opposition leaders and critically-minded journalists.”