Mr. Touray, 
    I share your sentiments and frustration, but I think boycotting the elections would be too little, too late.  Many people have already invested a lot of time and money for the Opposition to call it off at the 11th hour. 
    In my opinion, the Opposition should have posed pre-conditions to the government to first correct certain anomalies inherent in the current electoral system, failure of which they would refuse to participate in future elections. 
    Such pre-conditions could have been, inter alia, the independence of the IEC, fair electoral laws and voter registration procedures, and equal access to government controlled media at all times.  Elections in The Gambia and most African countries are not won on election day. The incumbent government manipulates the entire electoral system to its advantage months or years before the polls.  In the face of a weak and divided opposition, the rest would just be a simple walk over for the ruling party. 
    Let's look at our neighbor, Senegal. Wade himself has come under attack for the fraudulent and clandestine registration of voters and for manipulating the constitution to suit his own party. Allegedly, tens of thousands of Guineans have been registered around the border with Senegal.  The deposits required for presidential and legislative candidates have been arbitrarily increased to 25 million francs and 15 million francs, respectively; and both elections will now be held simultaneously despite protests from the Opposition.  The PDS dominated parliament is now pushing for a constitutional amendment to eliminate the second round of voting to ensure the re-election of the octogenarian in February 2007. The same coalition that brought Wade to power has now vowed to bring him down in the forthcoming elections. 

    Wade's democratic record is so appalling that there is a virtual nostalgia for the former PS government of Diouf, prompting Prof. Abdoulaye Bathily, leader of the LD/MPT, to say that Wade is one of the worst things that ever happened to Senegal. 

    Clearly, The Gambian opposition does not need any assistance from Wade; that would tantamount to setting a thief to catch a thief. 
    What the Opposition needs to do is learn how to work together in the pre and post election periods. The tragedies that struck The Gambia with the wanton murder of school children, journalists, and military officers should have been the rallying points around which they mobilized the nation. This could have been done through public sensitization meetings, peaceful demonstrations and the constant lobbying of the donor community. 
    And to cap it all, the ongoing slugfest between the two opposition camps demeans the sincerity of the struggle to liberate The Gambia from the grips of the APRC juggernaut. 

  Momodou.
   
  

Muhammed Lamin Touray <[log in to unmask]> wrote: 
... I think the oppositions should boycott the forthcoming presidential election and advise their supporters to stay away from it. By contesting this election, the opposition will legitimize this corrupt process. It will do no harm to the opposition if they call it quit since they cannot win under the current conditions. The playing field is designed to benefit APRC at the detriment of the opposition and the Gambian peoples. 
   
Muhammed Lamin Touray
   

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