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Momodou
Denmark
11744 Posts |
 Posted - 13 Jan 2007 : 15:55:02
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IEC NEWS CONFERENCE
103 CANDIDATES TO CONTEST FOR NA ELECTIONS
By Baboucarr Ceesay & Amie Sanneh
Mr. Alhaji Mustapha L. Carayol, the IEC Chairman, said the Commission concluded a transfer and replacement of voters’ cards exercise from 14th to 29th December 2006. He made this statement in a press conference organised to inform journalists about the IEC’s preparedness for the national assembly Elections.
Referring to the statistics of the recently concluded replacement and transfer of voters’ cards, he stated that 573 cards were transferred and 672 replaced in the various regional offices. He stated further that 24 cards have been transferred and 47 replaced in Banjul, Kanifing 87 transfers and 110 replacements, Brikama 109 transfers and 109 replacements, Kerewan 78 transfers and 74 replacements, Mansakonko 78 transfers and 56 replacements, Janjangbureh 84 transfers and 127 replacements, Basse 113 transfers and 149 replacements.
Mr. Carayol added that all qualified candidates for the elections have been duly nominated in their regional offices; that the APRC is contesting in all the 48 constituencies, UDP in 29 constituencies, NRP in 8 constituencies and NADD put up candidates in 5 constituencies and there are 13 independent candidates. He mentioned that 103 candidates are contesting for the forthcoming National Assembly Elections.
The official campaign period for the National Assembly Elections, he said, will run from Wednesday 10th January 2007 to Tuesday, 23rd January 2007. He said considering the large number of candidates, GRTS will be unable to mount live coverage of rallies and meetings due to limited capacity and time. Two five minute political broadcasts will be carried for each of the contesting candidates throughout the campaign period.
“The Media Monitoring Unit of the IEC is being set up to monitor the public and private media during the campaign period and the conduct of the polls on Election Day,” Carayol posited.
He said the IEC has gone on a massive voter education campaign throughout the country in collaboration with the National Council for Civic Education (NCCE), the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations, The Gambia National Youth Parliament and Youth Ambassadors for Peace.
He insinuated that radio and television talk shows, radio and television election messages, election songs, video clips, face-to-face community meetings, drama and school outreach programmes include the strategies used in their ongoing effective and essential voter education campaign.
He pointed out that a training of trainers for polling staff for the conduct of the National Assembly Elections is slated for Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th January 2007 and the decentralised training of polling staff which will be facilitated by the regional officers is slated for Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st January 2007. He stated that most of the polling staff who participated in the conduct of the September 2006 Presidential Election have been called back to participate in the training and this guarantees the efficiency of the polling staff. Polling and Counting Agents and security personnel will form part of the team that will be trained at both levels of the training.
He underscored the point that a good number of applications from both domestic and international observers are being received by the IEC and are being processed for accreditation by the Independent Electoral Commission. He expressed their hope to have a great number of domestic observers because a great number of them have been trained across the country by the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations.
For the logistics, he said all election materials are currently at the IEC regional offices ready for deployment to the villages and polling stations.
Because some constituencies are not being contested, Chairman Carayol said, 930 polling stations and 43 counting centres will be closed in the National Assembly Elections. He stated that the IEC has worked relentlessly to take care of the problems that were encountered during the September 2006 Presidential Election. He said that the Commission will contact more Polling Assistants who will help direct voters to their appropriate polling stations; that the commission will also hire more vehicles which will be added to those to be commandeered from government to ensure the timely collection of the ballot drums and polling personnel from the polling stations to the various counting centres.
In accordance with Section 5 sub section 2 of the 1996 Elections Decree, he said, the commission has appointed Mr. Seedy Jobe as Returning Officer for Banjul Administrative Area, Mr. Abdullah Jeng for Kanifing Administrative Area, Mr. Malleh Sallah for Brikama Administrative Area, Mr. Gibril Jallow for Kerewan Administrative Area, Mr. Robert Anthony for Mansakonko Administrative Area, Mrs. Sara Grey-Johnson for Janjangbureh Administrative Area and Mr. Alieu Mommar Njai for Basse Administrative Area.
Reminding the general public the date for the National Assembly Elections slated for Thursday 25th January 2007, the IEC Chairman said polling start at 7am and closes at 4pm.
Alhaji Mustapha L. Carayol Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, announced in accordance with Section 53 subsection 1 (a) of Decree 78 of 1996 that the following under mentioned persons as nominated unopposed are therefore duly elected to serve as Members of the National Assembly of the Republic of The Gambia.
The unopposed candidates are: Bintanding Jarju APRC Candidate Foni Berefet Constituency, Sherrif Abba Sanyang APRC Candidate Foni Kansala Constituency, Alhaji Matarr Kujabi APRC Candidate Foni Bondali Constituency, Borry L.S.B Kolley APRC Candidate Foni Jarrol Constituency, Saikou Suso Kantora APRC Candidate Kantora Constituency.
Questions were invited from the party representatives and the press.
Mr. Momodou Lamin Touray, representative for NADD asked what measures the would IEC take in situations where a party uses public transports for campaigning while other parties use “Gele-Gele” and so on as mean of transport during the campaign period. In response, Chairman Carayol promised that the Commission would address such problems and they would have series of meetings in matters relating to such practices.
Responding to Daily Observer’s Ousman Darboe’s question about the IEC’s position on the arrests of voters on queues like what happened in Upper Saloum Constituency during the September 2005 by elections, Malleh Sallah, the Vice Chairman of IEC, said that they were never aware of such with their ten years experience in conducting elections in The Gambia. He called on people to be reporting such cases to the IEC.
Finally, Mr. Baboucarr Ceesay of Foroyaa asked about the measures that IEC would take in cases where a party waits until the eleventh hour of the campaign period to misuse the state media just to castigate an opponent.
Mr. Kawsu Ceesay, the Chief Electoral Officer of IEC confessed having understood what the Foroyaa reporter said and pointed out that in fact the last day should be a free day when no campaign should be held and assured that they cannot tolerate such practices from any side.
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue
Issue No. 004/2007, 3-4 January, 2007
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