From The Point


Wednesday, October 17, 2001


  IEC Chairman To Announce Final Results Only Voters On Register Would Vote

The IEC yesterday announced that the final results of the Presidential
Election on Thursday, October 18, 2001 shall be announced by the Chairman of
the Commission.

This announcement came following a debate over the legality for private
radio stations to relay the results as announced in the various counting
centers. The debate was triggered by a statement made on Monday by Interior
Secretary, Badjie, during a briefing session with Observers at the Kairaba
Beach Hotel. Badjie warned that the security of journalists relaying results
through mobile phones to media houses could not be guaranteed. Mr. Baboucarr
Gaye of Citizen FM intimated that well- trained staff had been identified
for the job which was successfully carried out during the recent Baddibu and
Kiang by-elections without hitches.

He further explained that as in the previous exercise mentioned earlier his
staff would just confine themselves to announcing the scores as
authenticated by the IEC on the ground without declaring the name of any
winner in one area or the other. Mark Doyle of the BBC also asked the IEC to
clear the air as far as that issue was concerned. In another development,
the IEC finally resolved the issue of voters’ card holders whose name do not
appear in the final register by providing that only those whose names appear
would vote. The release to that effect read:

This notice is to inform all prospective voters at the Presidential Election
on Thursday, October 18, 2001 that only those whose names appear in the
final register of voters will be allowed to vote. All Presiding Officers are
requested to comply with this directive.

This matter was also debated at yesterday’s session when the UDP-led
coalition’s Femi Peters produced a Senegalese identity card as well as the
holder’s Gambian voter’s card. The lady born in Senegal was issued a voters’
card . The issue triggered a sharp reaction from some European observers who
declared that they would be forced to question the transparency of the
election should the IEC maintain that anyone with a voters’ card must be
allowed to vote

. Other speakers also maintained that the issue was a serious one that
needed the urgent attention of the IEC.







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