[1] They were first parliamentary elections since the inauguration of Adama Barrow as President and resulted in a landslide victory for the United Democratic Party, which won 31 of the 53 seats.

The mission was formally launched on 22 March 2017 and it is led by the Chief Observer, Miroslav Poche, who is a Czech Member of the European Parliament (MEP).

Initially, the mission consisted of six international election experts based in Banjul, and 14 long-term observers (LTOs) deployed across The Gambia.

Jean Lambert, the head of the European Parliament delegation said "The Gambia has been through a historical moment with many things changing almost overnight.

However, given the circumstances, I would like to express my great respect to the IEC as well as to the Gambian citizens for the peaceful atmosphere of the election day."