From Freedom Newspaper:

Breaking News: Gambia: 796,929 Gambian Voters To Vote In November Polls-Chairman Carayol Tells Political Leaders
796,929 Gambian Voters To Vote In November Polls-Chairman Carayol Tells Political Leaders 

As IEC Briefs The Media, Political Parties And Others

By Staff Reporter Ebrima Jarju, Banjul

The Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) Alhaji Mustapha L Carayol has said that as at now, the number of registered voters ahead of the November Presidential Elections is 796,929.  He was speaking at a press conference Tuesday at the IEC headquarters along Bertil Harding Highway.  The purpose of the press conference is to give the final figure on the final voter roll and other pertinent issues on the presidential election as today marks fifty one days to Election Day. The IEC according to Carayol, continues to seek the indulgence of the Gambian electorates, the general public, and all other stakeholders in the electoral process of the Gambia.

After successfully concluding the 2011 General Registration of Voters Exercise, the provisional list of voters were published at the registration centers across the country. At the completion of the display and public scrutiny of the provisional list of voters, there was no Appeal but the Commission received 173 Objections. 163 of the Objections were from Central Region and 10 from Kanifing Municipality. 

However, two of those objected to from the Kanifing Municipality honorably surrendered their cards to the Commission before the commencement of the Revising Courts.

The cases have already been heard by the Revising Courts and only five cards have been expunged from the register. “The digital system of voter registration employed was also used as a platform upon which a biometric matching was conducted,’’  the IEC Boss noted. 

The cross matching query was able to detect a very high number of multiple registrations. These are people who registered more than once he told the meeting.

Carayol further stated that the following information was provided by the IEC Database in respect of double or multiple voter registrations:

1 person registered 5 times in 5 Registration Centers

2 persons registered 4 times in 4 Registration Centers

11 persons registered 3 times in different centers and 1183 persons registered 2 times.

Thus a total number of 1897 persons are the suspected cases of people who registered more than once. Thump print and facial recognition were used as the means of detecting this.

The Commission in collaboration with the Political Parties as a matter of goodwill granted a period of amnesty to the suspected cases of those who registered more than once. 

However, the response was not very encouraging and so consequently, the Commission instead of taking all these people to court, took this bold decision of deleting all cards except the most recent one. As a consequence, all those suspected cases of double registration’s names will appear only once in the register.

At the end of the General Registration of Voters exercise, it was announced that the number of registered voters stood at 837, 039. As at now the number of registered voters is 796,929 and these are the people who will be voting at 1, 302 polling stations across the country.  The reason for this drastic drop is that the registration officials at the time added the spoil and cancelled cards in the statistics that they sent as returns from the field. Consequently, during the finalizing of the register, these records were removed.

“The Presidential Election will be held on Thursday November 24, 2011, Nomination of candidates will be held on November 10, 2011 from 8 O’ Clock in the morning to 4 O’ Clock in the afternoon whiles the campaign will commence on November 12, 2011 and end on 22 November 2011.’’

The Commission is already ahead of time as far as the overseas procurement of materials is concerned. Those to be procured locally are also being taken care of. With the advent of the new digital voter registration system, we will undoubtedly see remarkable improvements in the electoral service delivery in the forthcoming elections. The voters’ picture and personal details will be shown on the head register and we also expect to reduce the voting time for every voter on pooling day.

As indicated, the IEC Boss disclosed that they have also remarkably increased the number of pooling stations to give better access to all voters.

The Commission according to him in collaboration with the National Council for Civic Education (NCCE) and other partners will embark on a massive sensitization. The NCCE will deal with civic education and the IEC will mainly focus on voter education and voter information.

The management of the Gambia Radio and Television Services has already been contacted as far as what their role is prior, during and after the electioneering period. The Media Rules on Elections have already been sent to them. These same Media Rules will be made available to all other Media Houses.

“Remember that election is the business of all Gambians and so the Commission enjoins the media houses to join them in this massive voter sensitization,’’ said the Commission Chairman.

The IEC is also working closely with other stakeholders most specially those in the entertainment industry and we hoping that they will also play a very pivotal role in the massive voter sensitization campaign.

 On the election date for the National Assembly, he said that will be held on March 29, 2012 as it is in consonance with Section 96 subsection (1) of the Constitution of the Gambia which reads: “there shall be a general election of all the members of the national Assembly which shall be held four months after the date of election of office of the President.’’ Nomination days will be March 8, 2012-10 as campaign will commence on March 14, 2012 and end March 27.

Lawyer Ousainou Darboe, Hamat NK Bah, Halifa Sallah all spoke at length calling on the IEC to revisit the election period as the time is not adequate which is not favorable to the oppositions as the APRC has been campaigning for a longer period. The opposition is asking for an extension of the campaign period.  But the IEC Boss however stated that the dates will never be changed.   

“We expect Gambians, once again to fully demonstrate their sense of maturity and the respect and love for law and order, peace and tranquility in all these activities,” said the Election Chairman. 

The IEC would like to implore the participation of each and every voter and the general public at large in the electoral process.

For news tips, and rejoinders, please e-mail our editor at: [log in to unmask], or [log in to unmask] Tel. 001-919-749-6319 

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