Mr. Camara: This is indeed good news coming out of Hon. Hamat Bah. As a visionary, Hon. Bah has evoked a sense of understanding that elections will not be free and fair when votes are transported to administrative headquarters. Dictator yahya and his forty thieves will steal. I hope the opposition can collectively back Hon. Bah's sentiments. Why participate in an election that will not be transparent? It makes sense to boycott if dictator yahya uses his "Ali Baba and the forty thieves' scenario". Naphiyo, Comrade ML Jassey-Conteh Original Message: ----------------- From: Momodou Camara [log in to unmask] Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2001 19:59:57 +0200 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: FWD.Gambia government planning to rig elections: opposition The following is culled from: clari.world.gov.politics,clari.world.africa.western,clari.world.mideast+africa News groups ************************* BANJUL, July 13 (AFP) - Gambia's government is planning to rig presidential and parliamentary polls later this year and next, but the opposition will not participate unless elections are free, fair and transparent, an opposition leader warned Friday. Hamat Bah, head of the National Reconciliation Party (NRP) in the west African state, said three opposition parties had walked out of a Thursday meeting with the electoral commission when told vote-counting would take place in administrative centres instead of polling stations. Bah said votes had been counted on the spot in polling stations in recent local elections. The electoral commission had appeared willing to adopt this method in the presidential election next October and the parliamentary vote in January. "They (electoral commission officials) had a meeting with the highest authorities and they changed their mind ... arguing that security could not be guaranteed," Bah said. "It's a way to rig the elections again ... another way to try to steal the elections," the politician charged. The opposition parties would meet next week to decide on a common response, he said, adding: "We will not participate in elections if they are not free, fair and clear." Bah also reiterated opposition criticism of electoral lists, claiming that people from the Casamance area of neighbouring Senegal had been registered as Gambian voters. The opposition claims the government wants to obtain a maximum vote from the Diolas, an ethnic group straddling Gambia and Casamance. Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh is a Diola. Gambia, one of the poorest countries in the world, is a former British colony which gained independence within the Commonwealth in 1965 and was ruled by Dawda Kairaba Jawara until overthrown in a bloodless military coup led by Jammeh in 1994. All political activity was banned and a programme was launched to eliminate all corruption before a timetable for transition to civilian law was introduced. A referendum on the new constitution was held in 1996 and endorsed by 70.4 percent of voters. Jammeh won presidential elections later that year, and his Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) won parliamentary elections in 1997. The constitution approved by referendum in 1996 came into effect in 1997. It vests executive power in a president elected by direct universal suffrage. A 45-member National Assembly holds legislative power. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- Mail2Web - Check your email from the web at http://www.mail2web.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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------