By Astou Jawara
Peace Ambassadors-The Gambia (PAG) Election Watch Committee (EWC) Observers had said the nomination process was disturbed in three instances, most notably in the West Coast Region when the IEC rejected (Mr. Momodou Sabally) the UDP aspiring candidate for Busumbala Constituency.
Secondly, the EWC reported that protestors were engaged in violence and videos have circulated on social media showing police using excessive force.
“The EWC condemns any violence within the electoral process and urges aggrieved aspirants to utilize the prescribed legal mechanisms to pursue their grievances,” Hon. Ndegen Jobe, Deputy Speaker of National Youth Parliament (NYP), remarked on Thursday, 17th March, 2022 during a press conference at the PAG head office, Kanifing.
The EWC is a partnership of the Peace Ambassadors-The Gambia (PAG), ACTIVISTA and National Youth Parliament will observe the electoral processes in The Gambia. Ms. Jobe disclosed that most of the regional offices closed the nomination process on time (by 4:00pm), and that 28 EWC reports indicated that the process closed before 4:00pm. And an additional 21 reports indicated that the offices closed by 4:30pm.
“Election Watch Observers were asked to observe whether aspirants submitted a complete nomination package and that the IEC followed procedures in either accepting or rejecting their nominations.
“However, in many instances, the IEC confirmed receipt of the nomination package and later called the candidate to return to collect their acceptance of nomination,” she revealed of their findings.
Due to this, the National Youth parliamentarian went on, EWC were not able to fully observe how the IEC reviewed those packages or if candidates were asked to make corrections to their nomination packages.
However, she explained that the low number of rejected candidates indicates that mistakes within the nomination paperwork was not a significant barrier to candidacy in this process.
EWC observers reported on campaign activities from 7th March, 2022, the period prior to the start of the official campaign period–March 17th.
Deputy Speaker Jobe told the press that many political parties and candidates have already started to conduct campaign activities such as events/rallies in some of the constituencies across the country; and that “24 of 52 constituency observers reported witnessing at least one campaign activity in their constituency during the reporting period.
At the time of the press conference, she reported that Observers noted that NPP held campaign activities in 177 constituencies, the UDP in 16 constituencies, GDC in 9 constituencies and independent candidates in 12 constituencies before the start of the official campaign period.
“While the official campaign has not started yet [at the time], EWC reported witnessing or hearing of some violations of the Code of Campaign Ethics for parties.”
Hon. Jobe disclosed also that Observers in four (4) constituencies heard of instances where voters were offered money for their voter cards, adding that in five constituencies, observers have witnessed political parties or candidates distributing cash or other gifts to voters and observers; and in additionally five constituencies, they heard of such instances occurring in their areas. Observers noted a variety of political parties participating in this violation.
Elections Watch Observers during the period of observation did not report high levels of sensitization on Covid-19, with 39 of 52 constituency observers reporting that they had not heard any Covid-19 sensitization message.
