Comrades: This really shows how democracy works. We share different sentiments in the strategy we should adopt to salvage our country. Because of this,we must continue this vital debate. My call for a boycott is not from any emotional view, but from a point of realization that The Gambian dictator will not oblige to any instructions from IEC. I am willing to prolong my call for a boycott and engage the IEC on conditions for a free and fair election. One condition is that the opposition must seek to invite foreign observers and that the military should stay in barracks. The IEC should invite Gambians to volunteer as election clerks, inspectors and counters of ballots. The ballots should be counted at each polling station and that they should not be moved from one station to the other. There should not be any excuse of not providing barrels in each voting station. With all due respect I have yet to see familiar names on the fund driving list of comrades who are so vehemently opposed to the boycott. Please use the same strategy by contributing to this noble endeavor. Naphiyo, Comrade ML Jassey-Conteh ------Original Message------ From: Lamin Manneh PF <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: May 2, 2001 7:05:23 PM GMT Subject: Re: BOYCOTT THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION Mr.. Conteh, talking about boycotting elections is premature at this stage of affairs. What oppositions need to do is to engage IEC in serious and frank discussions on what went wrong in the previous elections and find practical solutions to all of them. Some of the pertinent issues are campaign ethics, use of public media, the involvement of military, police, NIA, chiefs and Divisional Commissioners(campaigning at official levels). The IEC must keep their independence and ensure that every single rule governing the forthcoming elections are strictly observed. They(IEC) must be prepared to apply sanctions on any political party that infringe any existing electoral law. If the IEC lose control of the game and all forms of irregularities are happening before the casting of votes, then it will be legitimate for the oppositions to boycott the election. They can do this anytime, even on the eve of election. Now, if the opposition parties believed that the registration of voters was rigged but were unable to adjudicate or maybe did but lost their cases in court unfairly, they can boycott elections outright. But why boycott elections now? Is it mainly because of the new voter registration plans that is underway in The Gambia? Remember, Ebrima Ceesay's source gives rumors which most of the time has some element of truth but not the whole truth. Sometimes very misleading. We need to know what really the IEC is up to. It is true that there will be a six week registration exercise fairly soon in The Gambia. But is this exercise a general supplementary registration throughout the country or voiding the old voter's card and have a fresh registration. If the later is true it is going to cost government millions of Dalassis to register every Gambian 18 years and above and will take approximately 3 months to complete with fairly the same or more resources deployed in 1996 registration. In fact i don't think both ICE and government have that capital base to conduct a fresh compilation of voters within six weeks unless they have a substantial amount of money from a foreign sponsor. The former is just a routine exercise to register people who now reach 18 years or more and also those who missed the last registration. It could be general(the whole country) or specific electoral district/s. NO FEAR AT THIS STAGE UNCLE CONTEH: It is a civic right of all political parties and every Gambian to monitor and scrutinize every single registration card issued to anybody during voter registration. If these individuals or political parties or any interest group witness or believed that some irregularities had happened at registration centers, they have all right to go to court. If all legal means are exhausted without any success or let say truth, then we can think of boycotting elections. The opposition has to be very vigilant and make sure that there is no double registration of certain individuals either within or in different constituency/ies and also look for foreigners. Mr.. Conteh, i can see the type of person you are by reading your postings. I also understand your frustrations. But let handle these issues judiciously and professionally. Anger or emotions will not solve it. We (oppositions) must understand our problems in order to to solve them properly. With best regard PF MANNEH >From: MLJ Conteh <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: BOYCOTT THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION >Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 21:35:07 -0400 > >Comrades: > >I concur with Kats and therefore call on the >opposition to boycott the elections. It does >not make any sense to participate in an electoral >process when the presidential election is >already won by dictator yahya jemus. > >The Gambian dictator will use all costs to rig >and steal the elections. By boycotting the >elections, the opposition will have more >sympathy from the international community than >participating, thereby legitimizing the dictator's >tactics. > >This scenario will be similar to the tactics used >by the Nicaraguan opposition against the >Sandinistas. No single opposition party can >claim to have soul rights to our struggle. > >Naphiyo, > >Comrade ML Jassey-Conteh > >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >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. >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------