IEC brief observers on election process



The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) recently held a meeting with the
international observers at the Kairaba Beach Hotel to brief them on the
election process. by Gibril MS Jassey Speaking on the occasion, the chairman
of the Independent Electoral Commission, Gabriel Roberts told the observers
to contribute to the election process as referees, adding that they (the
observers) should keep in close contact with the commission to report any
unusual happening.

He assured the observers that at the end of the exercise, they would be able
to prepare accurate reports for their various countries and organisations.
Mr Malleh Sallah, the director of operations at the Independent Electoral
Commission, told the observers that there were 509,000 registered voters,
811 polling stations, 28 counting centres and seven collation centres
throughout the country.

He said polling stations would open at 7am in the morning and close at 4pm
in the afternoon. Sallah informed the observers that the system of voting
here was through secret ballot. He told the observers that polling officers
would first empty the ballot boxes in the presence of party agents at the
polling stations to confirmed that the boxes were empty. "From then on, the
polling officers would place some sand at the bottom of the ballot boxes and
seal them."

He said the polling officers would allow the people to vote only when they
produce their voters cards but also made it clear that any person with a
voters card whose name does not appear on the final register of voters would
not be allowed to vote.

In a separate engagement, the Gambia security officers, also briefed the
observers on security arrangements for election day. Mr Ebou Njie, the
inspector general of police, told the observers that on the election day,
the role of the security forces would only be to provide security during the
election to protect the IEC personnel and government property. He said on
that day, the observers can expect to see security officers at such
installations.

Mr Babucarr Jatta, the army chief of staff also told the observers that the
Gambia National Army would be deployed at the boarders for security reasons.
The secretary of state for the interior, Ousman Badjie, said on the election
day, each polling station would be provided with two police officers, adding
that all these officers at the polling stations would not carry any guns but
those escorting the ballot boxes from the polling stations would be armed.
SoS Badjie urged journalists not to announce any final results, noting that
the IEC was responsible for that.




_________________________________________________________________
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

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