Mr. Dampha,

I don't agree that I misquoted you when wrote:

"You see, this is why I cannot take you and others seriously when you say
"minds of the people need opening up to enable them see that this
government does not deserve to be re-elected come the October and January
elections respectively". This is one of the most conceited
statements one can make."

It is important to read the first sentence in the context it was written
especially when linked to the follow-up sentence.

You wrote:
"Going back to the by-elections, you are again downplaying the 35 vote
majority UDP had in the previous election. As I said yesterday, what is
relevant here, is what transpired in the interim; from the previous election
to date. What happened to convince the people of Kiang that instead of
building on the 35 vote majority, they should give APRC an 800 vote
majority? You see my point? The majority did not just disappear because it
was lower than the majority in Baddibu. The connection you are trying to
make does not make sense to
me"

What happened to convince the people of Kiang that instead of building on
the 35 vote UDP majority they instead delivered a most humiliating defeat to
the UDP is what you should ponder over rather than give undue importance to
the absentee votes. Why did these decent folks in Kiang side with the APRC
inspite of their record? That's a good start.

When the election results were announced you should have studied the results
very carefully analysed them from many different angles. Take the following:

THE BYE ELECTION RESULT.

APRC candidate    1,784 votes
UDPC candidate      991 votes
Absentee votes    1,056 votes
Total votes       3,831 votes
% Turn-out           72.44%

For this election, can one really say that the percentage turn-out is low?
An even supposing one comes to that conclusion, ponder over this:

For the UDP candidate to have won by 1 vote he would have had to poll 1,785
votes. This would have required 3,569 voters to vote. In other words a
turn-out of 93.16%.

For the UDP to maintain their slim 35 vote majority, they would have needed
1,819 votes requiring 3,603 voters to vote. In other words  a percentage
turn-out of 94.05%.

So, you see what daunting task the UDP had? This is why I have said it over
and over again that VOTE BUYING DID NOT COST THE UDP the Kiang by-election.
Period. If you want you may apply the same logic to Badibu election result.
For each polling station, maintain the voting pattern and go for 100% voter
turnout and you will come to the logical conclusion that the UDP was
humiliated there too.

Have a good day and bye 4Now.

     ==========================================================
"There is a time in the life of every problem when it is big enough to see,
yet small enough to solve"

                  (MIKE LEAVITT)
     ===========================================================



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