Joe, the United in the UNITED FRONT you asked for is the five parties that have agreed to select a candidate through a convention and have committed themselves to support whoever emerges as the candidate at the convention. This is the UNITED FRONT, like it or not. Unless any of the party pulls out of the convention as matters stand right now five parties out of seven have agreed to unite through a process. Just as you said it used to be five camps now there are three camps, this is progress, right?
As to your cooked up puzzle you try to pass around as fact all I have to say is that we have to treat this kind of issues with respect and seriousness. I have great respect for you as a person who speaks his mind but you should not go to the extent of passing around falsehood as truth. 
The fact is no one has yet been selected out of GMC, GPDP, GPDP, NRP PDOIS and NADD to be the presidential candidate. This will be done at a convention to be held within a week after the signing of the agreement document tomorrow. 
You asked why PDOIS could not endorse Ousainou based on the fact that his party has pulled more votes among the opposition in the past. To answer your question, I will say PDOIS did not endorse any individual. We in PDOIS have clearly stated that in our view none of the existing opposition parties singlehandedly can lead the rest of the opposition into victory or any electoral success. We have constantly used the 2006 alliance between the UDP and NRP as an example. When these two parties allied together the common argument was that a summation of their 2001 electoral results will earn them victory. We all know how that pact ended. 
Now armed with all the statistical and theoretical facts we know that what the UDP is asking for is not a winnable option. But we were even ready to listen to them and even opened up to leaving the decision of having a UDP-led alliance to the delegates of a convention. But UDP wanted its way only at the end of the day the majority of the parties had a different view. 
Hence PDOIS has not endorsed anybody. What we have committed ourselves to is supporting anybody who is selected by the convention delegates. This could be anybody who put him or herself as a candidate at the convention. This includes Hamat as well as Hendry. Is it not democracy that we are talking about? 
 
 
 

--- On Fri, 10/28/11, Joe Joe <[log in to unmask]> wrote:


From: Joe Joe <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [G_L] Fwd: IS THE UNDBELIEVABLE HAPPENING? SIGNING CEREMONY OF MOU OF UNITED FRONT OF OPPOSITION PARTIES
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Friday, October 28, 2011, 12:30 PM






Laye, I think the caption by Foroyaa is erroneous or misleading. There is No United Front when you have two presidential contenders within the opposition - Ousainou Darboe and soon to be announced, Hamat Bah. Actually, nothing has changed for more than a year now, when Hamat started saying he was running as a candidate. The only people who expressed interest in running as candidates has not changed for more than a year - Yaya, Ousainou, and Hamat. What has changed is the composition of the camps. Initially, we had APRC; UDP, PPP, and GMC; NRP; PDOIS and NADD (which are one and the same to me at this time unless one endeavors to be academic to assign Sidia to PDOIS and Halifa to NADD. If so, is Sidia also part of NADD and is Halifa still part of PDOIS?); and the GPDP. Now, we have APRC; UDP and PPP; NRP, PDOIS/NADD, GMC, and GPDP. It used to be 5 camps, now it is 3 camps. The case of GMC is still unfolding, as they were the first to announce an
 alliance with UDP and now they are allied with another camp according to this and other reprots. Information has been trickling in that all is not well in that camp and Gambians will be informed as to what is is going on soon. So, where is the UNITED, in the united front? Clearly, there is no United Front and the paper needs to revisit their caption. Besides, anyone who has been following this saga clearly knows that there is no United Front, but two camps within the opposition and each has selected a Presidential candidate. One camp is allied based on endorsement of one party by the other because of size and support. The other camp were to hold a convention and they hopefully will let Gambians know the basis of their selection. The flag bearer of each camp in the opposition believe they should lead any alliance they are a part of. For once, Hamat has said something and he stuck by it. That he will not be part of an alliance that he will not lead. In
 many ways, no different from Ousainou, only Ousainou hinge his on the contention that he has the largest following, which by default, Hamat does not agree with based on his stance. Now, the puzzler here is PDOIS/NADD (Sidia/Halifa).  How did they end up endorsing the candidacy of Hamat, but could not endorse the candidature of Ousainou? Where was their principles in the case of Hamat, for we all saw Hamat in action over the years, thus, enquiring minds want to know the basis of Halifa/Sidia support of Hamat's candidature. Is it because Hamat has the largest following? If that is the case, then why could they not endorse Ousainou, since Ousainou consistently had more votes than Hamat in all contests they entered thus far. Since NADD/PDOIS did not field a candidate, could it be they endorsed another candidate and not Hamat? If so, who is that candidate and what is their basis? If all or some in the Convention voted for Hamat, what was their basis? I can
 here the partinicks to cry, but Joe we just told you we had a Convention, what don't you understand? To that I say, I do not understand the logic. I hope Foroyaa will provide answers to my questions and that of many others who have many gaps in their quest for sound analysis of what is going on. The most important group in this musical chair game is the electorate/voter and they will speak in the next four weeks or so and a verdict will be rendered. This is where matters stand.
 
Joe
 
 


> Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2011 09:17:39 -0500
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [G_L] Fwd: IS THE UNDBELIEVABLE HAPPENING? SIGNING CEREMONY OF MOU OF UNITED FRONT OF OPPOSITION PARTIES
> To: [log in to unmask]
> 
> IS THE UNDBELIEVABLE HAPPENING? SIGNING CEREMONY OF MOU OF UNITED
> FRONT OF OPPOSITION PARTIES
> Author: Publisher | Date: 28-10-11 | Topic: Editorial
> 
> Foroyaa has received an invitation to send a reporter to cover the
> signing ceremony of the memorandum of understanding establishing a
> United Front of opposition parties to be held at the Atlantic Hotel in
> Banjul on Saturday 29th October 2011.
> This letter therefore confirms that those parties which support a
> convention have finally reached an agreement.
> What the Memorandum of Understanding contains will be known by our
> readers next Monday. Foroyaa will serialize it for the benefit of our
> readers.
> The 2011 election is beginning to come with its surprises. First the
> opposition was conceived to be dead. The APRC utilised the provincial
> tour of the President as an election campaign which was broadcast both
> by Radio and television for weeks. They made sure that each week came
> with its own activity. There was no sign of the opposition on state
> radio and television until the IEC arranged for a TV programme to
> sensitise the public on multiple registration and the need for those
> who did so to return their cards.
> It was in September that rumours began to spread that opposition
> parties were meeting to discuss about the formation of an alliance.
> The women groups of the different opposition parties formed a main
> pressure group to visit party executive Committee members especially
> the Secretary General of parties to promote the creation of a United
> Front.
> The talks ended on 14th October 2011 and most of the reports in the
> media concluded that the talks initiated by the UDP had collapsed.
> Others claim that the talks split into two camps, that is, the camp
> that supports a UDP led alliance comprising the UDP and the PPP, and
> the camp that supports the holding of a convention to select a flag
> bearer, that is, GMC, GPDP, NADD, NRP and PDOIS. Recently questions
> have been raised whether GMC is still a member. Some people have also
> said that the NRP shall never be part of a convention.
> On Saturday it will be clear who is or is not part of the United
> Front. Apparently Gambia is poised to have the most unpredictable
> election process that the country has ever held. No wonder foreign
> observers have started to conduct their pre-election observations and
> monitoring. The Common Wealth has done theirs. ECOWAS is on the way.
> Each Gambian should now be ready to make his or her vote count.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This article comes from FOROYAA Online
> http://www.foroyaa.gm
> 
> The URL for this story is:
> http://www.foroyaa.gm/modules/news/article.php?storyid=8187
> 
> 
> --
> -Laye
> ==============================
> "With fair speech thou might have thy will,
> With it thou might thy self spoil."
> --The R.M
> 
> ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
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