COURTESY OF DAILY OBSERVER Efforts are being made to register Gambians abroad as voters in the October presidential elections. This was disclosed Thursday by Gabriel Roberts, chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), at a press conference on the imminent voters registration exercise. However, according to him, the exercise would only be done in countries where Gambians are many. On the planned voters registration exercise, Mr Roberts said it was to enable the commission update its data on eligible voters. He added that the first phase of the exercise "has been the upgrading of our computer network and the development of new database software that will not only be more robust and allow greater data manipulation, but will also take care of the other problems associated with the 1996 registration system." Mr Roberts pointed out that the new registration exercise would ensure that voters are registered not just anywhere within their constituency, but within the ward they live in and at the same station they will cast their vote on election day. The IEC boss explained that the exercise would render the records of the 1996 exercise obsolete and that all Gambians must register again, regardless of whether they currently have a voter's card or not. He announced that Monday, May 21 would be the first day of the registration exercise which would end on Saturday, June 30, noting that "though registration will be on throughout this period, not all registration stations will be opened and closed at the same time.'' Only the new voter's card, he said, would be accepted at the polling booths on election days. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------