Hamajatta, of course I will not deny that votes were bought. But I will not say that "the by-elections were not a LEGITIMATE expression of the will of the people." On the contrary, I consider it VERY LEGITIMATE. My reason is simple; the overwhelming majority (more than 72%) freely voted for those they prefered. More over those who chose to sell their cards did so as a matter of choice. As to whether we can conclude by saying that the election results can still remain valid in the event that votes were ILLEGITIMATELY BOUGHT, of course yes and so does the majority of Gambians including the UDP leadership. Would you agree that, on the weight of all probabilities, the UDP would still have still lost, had votes not been bought? Mind you there is no evidence to show that the APRC bought all those absentee votes. Bye 4Now, KB Jobe. ========================================================== "There is a time in the life of every problem when it is big enough to see, yet small enough to solve" (MIKE LEAVITT) =========================================================== _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------