Gambians are casting their ballots to elect their next president, in a highly anticipated vote seen as a test of the country’s democratic transition.

President Adama Barrow faces a record five other candidates as he seeks re-election in what is expected to be a close race. Political veteran Ousainou Darboe is seen as the main opposition candidate.

Saturday’s vote is the first since longtime autocratic ruler Yahya Jammeh was forced into exile in January 2017 after Barrow, relatively unknown at the time, defeated him at the ballot box. His departure to Equatorial Guinea ended a 22-year rule marked by a litany of alleged crimes, abuses and financial plunder.

As voting began at 08:00 GMT, people had already formed long queues outside polling stations. Polls are were closed at 17:00 GMT, and initial results in the one-round election could be announced as early as Sunday.

"Hundreds of people queued up and waited for the polls to open,” said Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris, reporting from a voting centre in the capital, Banjul, noting that the "massive turnout” was "no surprise”.

"This is the first election in many years where a voter can go and cast their ballot without having to worry about being observed, intimidated or arrested after voting,” he added.

The Gambia, a sliver of land about 480km (300 miles) long with a coastline of about 60km (37 miles) on the Atlantic Ocean, is surrounded by Senegal. It is home to more than two million people, about half of whom live on less than $1.90 per day.

Many voters are hoping for an improvement in their living standards after the tourism-dependent economy was dealt a severe blow by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"People are now enjoying greater freedom. People have seen the value of elections as a means to peace. Gambians are peace-loving and they see elections as a peaceful means to elect their leaders,” Sait Matty Jaw, a lecturer at University of The Gambia, told Al Jazeera.

"The campaigns have been very peaceful. People are not scared to show where they belong,” Jaw added.