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Momodou
Denmark
11818 Posts |
 Posted - 02 Sep 2006 : 14:50:51
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OVER 200 ELECTION OBSERVERS EXPECTED
By Fabakary B. Ceesay& Amie Sanneh
The Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, (IEC), Mustapha Carayol, has said that they are expecting more than 200 observers to participate in the Presidential Election on the 22nd September, 2006. Mr. Carayol made these remarks at the IEC press conference held at it’s head quarters on Wednesday, 30th August 2006. Mr. Carayol said that the year 2006 has been a very busy one for the commission. Mr. Carayol said that the commission’s first acting for the year was the deletion exercise, which ensured the deletion of deceased voters from the register of voters as prescribed under sections 19 and 34 of the 1996 Elections Decree. He pointed out that the IEC has had problems fulfilling the requirement to delete the names of voters who have died. “However, the IEC conducted a deletion exercise from the 23rd January to the 5th of February 2006 and the number of deleted names, stands at 11,555,”he said. Mr. Carayol indicated that the IEC conducted a supplementary registration of electors (voters) which started on Monday the 19th of June 2006 and ended on the 2nd of July 2006; that another two weeks extension was made to the initial duration. The provisional number of registered voters stands at 94,424. According to him, the IEC through The Gambia Government, sought for assistance and that UNDP is coordinating the basket fund set up by the donors with a total package of 1.5 million dollars, managed by the Project Management Unit (PMU) of the UNDP, headed by an election adviser. He asserted that The Gambia Government has also committed itself to provide funds for the IEC to the tune of GMD 120 million.
Mr. Carayol noted that the provisional general voters number is 665,903, but that the number go up or down tomorrow. “This time we want to make sure that the voters list are 99% or even 100% correct,” he stated. He also indicated that the polling stations will likely be increased from 832 to 988 and that counting centers will also be increased from 28 to 48, one in each constituency. “It is hoped that this will render the counting process more expeditious and therefore facilitate the announcement of the results much earlier than the past.” Mr. Carayol sounded a word of caution to journalists and the media in general that the announcement of the final result is the prerogative of the Chairman of the IEC and that media houses will be advised strictly to desist from jumping the gun to avoid the incidence of announcing wrong results, which can be detrimental to their democratic and peaceful gains.
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue
Issue No. 72/2006, 1-3 August, 2006
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