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Momodou
Denmark
11835 Posts |
 Posted - 28 Sep 2006 : 00:38:33
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Foroyaa Editorial:
A UNITED FRONT CAN DEFEAT JAMMEH
In an interview with the BBC, when the interviewer suggested to Mr. Ousainou Darboe, who led the UDP/NRP/GPDP Alliance, that he did not make an impact because the opposition was fragmented, he remarked:
“That would have been a valid statement if the NADD had also polled a considerable number of votes, but that is not the case. I have always maintained that a united front is meaningless without a level playing field. However united we would have been the result would have been the same thing.”
The fact of the matter is that politics is not simple arithmetic but a complexity of social reality. Mr. Hamat Bah thought that by adding the number that voted for him to the number that voted for Mr. Darboe their candidate would need only 5% of the vote to win. But what happened? In the 2001 presidential election the UDP candidate polled 149,448 votes while the NRP candidate polled 35, 671 votes, giving a total of 185, 119 votes. In 2006 the UDP/NRP/GPDP alliance polled 104,808 votes, a drop of 80, 311 votes. This cannot be explained by simple arithmetic.
The fact of the matter is that whether or not the opposition was united having one candidate was a decisive factor in the election. When the opposition was united President and his regime were alarmed and the APRC was fragile with a good number of stalwarts sitting on the fence.
The masses were happy because the days of a new era was anticipated to be just round the corner. But their hopes were soon shattered and aspirations dashed when the UDP and NRP withdrew from NADD. Many opposition supporters decided to withdraw their support for their parties or to even support the ruling APRC.
The results show voter apathy. Only 58% of the registered voters voted in 2006 unlike 90% in 2001. Yahya Jammeh increased his votes from 242, 302 in 2001 to 264, 404 in 2006. In 2001 Hamat Bah polled 3, 054 votes in Upper Saloum in 2001 when Yahya polled 2, 881 votes. But in 2006 Yahya Jammeh polled 4, 102 votes while Hamat Bah polled 2, 663 votes even though the UDP votes were added. The point is even though the NRP membership could support the union of NRP and UDP they may not support UDP leading NRP. In short Yahya Jammeh won not because of the strength of the APRC but because of the weakness of the opposition due to their disunity.
Mr. Yankuba Touray once said that the APRC wins by strategy and tactics. This means that even though they do not have popular support they win by manipulating the local government structure, state media, intimidation, incumbency etc, etc. Yahya Jammeh approach is to show that he is invincible. (“No one can remove me from power either by coup or by election.”) The masses believe in power and must be convinced that the force they support is more powerful or as powerful as Jammeh before they give their support.
That was why a united front was a key element in the last election. The talk of small or insignificant party had engineered the disunity of the opposition. It will continue to engineer the disunity so long as some continue to maintain this stance.
It is wrong to say that no matter how “united we would have been the result would have been the same thing.” When an invincible force faces Yahya Jammeh, he will soon become a thing of the past.
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue
Issue No. 82/2006, 27-28 September, 2006
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