The Chairman,
Independent Electoral Commission
Kairaba Avenue
Kanifing, KSMD
19th December 2001

Dear Sir,
Malpractices leading to flawed elections
We have noted with great concern your statement made during a meeting that
IEC Officials had with political parties, the Press and attended by some
members of the diplomatic Corps, to the expect the total number of
registered voters will increase in comparison with the number registered
for the recently concluded presidential election.

We write to express our dismay and consternation at this revelation. We
cannot understand how the number of registered votes could increase over
above the number in the last registers used for presidential election when
no supplementary registration took place since the last elections.

Prior to the presidential election you informed a UDP delegation that you
intended to allow up to 10 % “margin of error” by letting people whose
names did not appear in the head register to vote by making reference to
the “counter foils. We had always maintained that such an approach would
allow for extra and irregularly registered persons to vote. However you
resiled from this decision when political parties, observers and other
expressed dissatisfaction on unusual and unheard of procedure since the
introduction of universal adult suffrage in The Gambia. We all left the
meeting satisfied that the election would be conducted on the basis of
allowing only those whose names appear on the register to vote. But you
changed this decision barely 15 hours before the opening of the polls.

We must also point out that the register used for the presidential election
had ordinarily gone through the process of verification - inspection of
lists was done at IEC offices, village bantabas etc. and Objections raised
were necessary. You had in accordance with the elections Decree issued
notice urging people to accordance with the Elections Decree issued noticed
urging people to scrutinize the list of voters displayed at public places
throughout the Gambia to allow those whose names do not appear on the list
to make representations to the appropriate registration officer for the
insertion of their names on the list of voters. It is therefore difficult
to understand how additional names could just appear on registers that have
not gone through the legal process prescribed by the Election Decree
without affording opportunity to potential objectors to raise objections to
retention of names on the list of voters.

If additional names appear in the “updated register” it can only be done
illegally and we condemn the act without equivocation. to We wish to warn
you not to proceed with this act, which in our view, is tantamount
tampering with the legally constituted registers accepted by all parties
and used for the presidential elections.

We have had to express our dissatisfaction over the way and manner that the
head registers were made available to our party prior to the presidential
election. The registers were dished out a few days before polling day and
this did not allow us time to adequately scrutinise and check them against
the lists made available earlier on which basis the objections were made.
This consequently opened the floodgates for all types of malpractices to
take place. We have had to express our dissatisfaction over the way and
manner that the head registers were made available to our party prior to
the presidential election. The registration were dished out a few days
before polling day and this did not allow us time to properly scrutinize
and check them against the list made available earlier on the basis of
which the objections were made. This consequently opened floodgates for all
types of malpractices to take place. We demand that you make available to
us head registers for all constituencies on or before 22nd December 2001.
We make this demand in order to ensure that no illegal registration carried
out is further injected into the registration in June.

We also cannot understand the peculiar and special exercise that the IEC
had embarked upon to allow massive transfer of voters from one constituency
to another barely two months after the presidential election. Admittedly,
from October to November a few people would have genuinely changed
residence and may find it more convenient to transfer their votes to enable
them to vote locally, but for voters to suddenly shift in their hundreds
from one constituency to another can only be regarded as a dubious and
sinister arrangement with the IEC calculated to influence voting. We note
particularly the huge transfers to Bakau, Jarra Central, Upper Saloum, to
name a few. This practice does not show the signs for a fair and equitable
election.

Finally, we wish to inform you, in no uncertain terms, that our party has
not been satisfied with the way that IEC handled the registering of voters
and use of the register during the election and we have made this
abundantly clear in various letters addressed to you. We will not sit by
and watch a recurrence during the forthcoming National Assembly elections.
It is our hope that you will, in the interest of a transparent electoral
process, be more amenable to our concerns this time than you have been in
the past.

Yours faithfully,
………………………………
A.N.M. OUSAINOU DARBOE
SECRETARY GENERAL & PARTY LEADER

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