Omar,

Thank you for your very on the spot analysis of the current political
situation in The Gambia, and how it is conducive to vote rigging.
I think though you misunderstad the point I am trying to make when I talk
about international involvement. You wrote:

"The international community can indeed play a vital role in resolving the
political mayhem we presently have in the Gambia. It may however be
dangerous if  multilateral institutions, as alluded to in your write-up, are
allowed to play a lead role. We have seen instances where international
observers have endorsed doubtful election results. This normally emanates
from the fact that they concentrate on elections rather than election
processes. I agree they can be involved but this should be to complement
national efforts."

Indeed there were observers in the last elections and they declared that the
voting process was free and fair when Gambians knew there was tampering with
the process long before the voting started and  also that non-Gambians voted.

If you read what I wrote carefully, I am not talking about involving the
international community as observers in the election process only, but as a
vehicle through which the reforms necessary to ensure a free and fair election are
put into place such as determining the composition of the IEC and taking steps
to correct or avoid the possibility of all of the things you mentioned as
avenues of cheating to be eliminated.

The APRC simply ignored everyone and went on to determine the composition of
the IEC and had them bend the rules in their favour and absolutely nothing was
done about it. They also engaged in all of the other things you mentioned to
steal votes, and they tamper with the constitution to protect themselves.

The big question is, if  they will put obstacles in the way of reforms,
which is a given based on their record, what options are available to the
opposition parties and the people so that pressure is brought to bear on the regime to
let these reforms take place without interference from them? This
intervention by the international community does not have to mean that they will take
full control, I envision it as pressure being applied on the regime to comply
with the charters of these organizations and here I am assuming that not
tampering with all the processes that will affect a free and fair election and
tampering with the constitution to protect themselves. are one of them but perhaps I
am wrong although it certainly warrants looking into.
I have no idea if such a thing is possible, this is simply a suggestion and
question in one.

At this point, I think the key is that the APRC is in charge and I think that
anyone who assumes that all these measures can be implemented with their
cooperation is naive. They will put obstacles in the way for sure and my
suggestions were meant to be a possible solution to prevent them from being able to do
this in view of the fact that no one in the country made any attempts to stop
these practices prior to the last election, or if they did, it was not
effective.

I have asked the question several times as to how these measures you mention
here can be tackled by the opposition parties and the Gambian public without
the interference of the regime making any difference. Perhaps there is a way
that i am not aware of, if this can be elaborated upon, that would be helpful.

You also wrote:

> "As for the factional interests you made mention of, if you are referring
> to
> the individual political organisations, I am afraid most of that will be
> around as long as we continue to have a multiparty political culture. That
> has a lot to do with the nature of multipartism."
>
> This is well understood by me and indeed, I am not advocating for a one
> party state which would defeat the argument for a democratic form of government
> which is what we are fighting for.
> Again, my reference to the need to put factionalism aside is to do this as a
> temporary  emergency measure so that the necessary unions can be established
> with one goal in mind, to  form a non-partisan coalition that will have one
> candidate behind whom all will rally to defeat the APRC, instead of the
> opposition parties engaging in the usual rivalry factionalism which will not help
> any of the opposition parties singly to defeat the APRC. If the coalition
> wins the elections, this would then require the formation of an interim
> government for a specified period until all the additional reforms to ensure that all
> political parties can come forward and compete in an election process that
> is free and clear of all forms of tampering
is completed.
I think that we do not differ in this view, perhaps you just did not
understand my reference to factionalism as well as my suggestion as to what role the
international community's intervention can be tapped into by the opposition
should the APRC put obstacles in their way in this effort.It would be ideal if
these reforms can be put into place by Gambians without outside help, but the
question is how, and will it be possible under the regime.
Factionalism and political maneuvering was also one of the reasons that a
united coalition never happened in the last election and the opposition simply
cannot defeat Jammeh if everyone concentrates on strategies to promote their own
party interest at this time. The idea of a coalition in itself already means
that these are all emergency strategies to solve a major problem we have right
now, namely the APRC regime. Otherwise, under a democratic system, one would
not necessarily even consider having all opposition parties in the country
form one coalition.

Perhaps if we can now shift the discussion to some of the possible solutions
the Gambian public and the opposition parties can undertake  to correct
electoral fraud by correcting the problems you mentioned,  and should they face
obstacles from the APRC regime,  what options are available to them from outside
international bodies to which The Gambia is a subscribing member, that would be
a very helpful discussion indeed.
I wish that some of the opposition politicians in The Gambia  and all
Gambians who are knowledgeable on these issues can also join this discussion to let
the people know what our options are.
The third part of this discussion should also deal with Gambians in the
disapora being able to register to vote in the upcoming election. What protection
under the constitution do we have regarding this and how can it be implemented?

Jabou Joh

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