GL,
Interesting dvelopments.

Beran


The Independent Published Friday, October 26, 2001



As Jammeh's main rival concedes defeat Juwara disagrees with Darboe's move



Lamin Waa Juwara the propaganda secretary of the United Democratic Party has
reacted sharply against Ousainou Darboe's telephone conversation with
President Jammeh conceding defeat in the presidential election, saying it
was not necessarily representative of the position of the party over the
election.

"The voice of Mr. Darboe is not the voice of the coalition" Juwara told The
Independent in his first public statement since the end of the election,
which saw his party outpolled by the APRC by just over four percent. Mr.
Juwara took issue with Mr. Darboe's "placatory" move, which he said was
being misconstrued by their political opponents as a show of weakness. "It
is perfectly normal in countries where multi-party pluralism is entrenched,
where a winner takes all does not exist, where society is reconciled for
contestants to congratulate each other and concede defeat," Juwara said,
adding that the coalition flag-bearer's action "is his prerogative as a
candidate to concede defeat."

Mr. Juwara however asserted that it was disappointing that the APRC
supporters across the country mistook Darboe's gesture as a sign of weakness
"thereby attacking our supporters across the country including an attack on
my own residence and those identified as the attackers are still not
apprehended." "As far as irregularities are concerned," a disappointed
Juwara went on, "the UDP and its coalition partners will meet to assess and
evaluate the situation and come out with a release that will determine
whether the elections were free and fair." "If the Darboe telephone call has
done more to legitimise the presidential elections than even the reports of
the observers as started in the Daily Observer editorial of October 23, all
detractors should know that the verdict of the UDP and its coalition
partners will be more important that the Darboe telephone call," Juwara
angrily retorted.

He also pointed out that the endorsement of the election would be made by
the UDP and its coalition partners and not by any individual or group of
individuals. "We have internal democracy and we're going to receive reports
from our eight organising committees and coordinators across the country
before we can give a final acceptance or rejection of the election," Juwara
maintained.

On the IEC, Juwara pointed out that "the cross-border voting and the issue
of counter-foil voters cards is not only a flaw but also a deliberate
derailment of the voting process by the IEC." He added that the IEC has been
very inconsistent regarding who should be allowed to vote, noting, "this
means that there is no proper registration of voters." "The IEC behaved as
if they own the election and the Gambian people," Juwara asserted.

The UDP national organising secretary further claimed that millions of
Dalasis in kind were openly given out across the country "which is contrary
to the Election Decree while no objection was raised by the IEC."





_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>

To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>