1. Are party officials allowed to accompany ballots to the counting Centers.
Yes.  Polling agents from political parties are not only allowed to accompany their ballot boxes but in physical control of these boxes up to the counting center escorted by a police officer and polling officials. Each Polling Agent will handover his or her box to their respective counting agents(representing their political parties) at the counting center and signed that the box/es had arrived safely or otherwise. They will also handover copies of Polling Station Closing Remark to their Counting Agents which includes informations like ballot tokens issued, ballot tokens unissued, number of people who voted at that polling station, number of people rejected if any, serial numbers of seals used to tied up all the ballot boxes and the serial number of the tamper evident bag used to carry the original copy of this information. Any irregularity or complain can be reported in this Closing Remark sheet or political parties can wait until later. A signature of the Polling Station Closing Remark sheet by a Polling Agent only signifies that he/she is a witness to all the polling activities from the poling station to the counting center

2. Are international observers allowed to accompany ballots to the counting centers?

Yes. I have given my Pick-up Plan to two international Observers and one Gambian from Afirican Center for Human Rights posted in Janjanbureh and they were reported to have followed vehicles carrying boxes to the counting center from the north bank area of Central River Division (CRD). They have also visited over three quater of the polling stations in CRD.

Malamin, during a private conversation with these international observers (two White ladies), they told me that Gambia has the best and most secured voting and counting system in all the countries they had conducted observation missions. During our registration training at the Friendship hotel in Bakau, the British trainers from De-la Rue Identity also confessed that a training package which usually takes them two months in other countries was delivered and entirely comprehended by PIEC officials in two weeks. They were really astonished by our level of understanding of electioning and the whole democratisation process. We all passed their test!

3. What are the procedures for counting ballots at the counting centers?

When boxes are delivered by polling agents and IEC officials and everybody inside the counting center takes oath, the boxes will be scrutinized by Counting Agents and Counting Officials to see if the info on the Polling Station Closing Remark is accurate. Polling Agents will be given enough time to do this and report any irregularities. Then counting will begin usually according to alphabetical order of candidates. I usually count politically tense districts such as Fulladu in broad daylight. A second count might be done and a third if requested by a political party.  Ballot Tokens Issued (THE INFO IN THE POLLING STATION CLOSING REMARK SHEET) at the polling station most be equal to Total Votes Counted. Ballot Tokens Issued PLUS Ballot Tokens Unissued must be equal to Ballot Tokens Received by the Presiding Officer from the Returning Officer. If their is a significant difference, the Returning Officer must report it to party agents and IEC officials.

4. What oppotunities exist for Yahya to tamper with ballots during transit to the counting centers.

This is very unlikely because it is going to be an open cheating and i bet you will kill some polling agents but they will never surrender their boxes to anybody.  

I hope this will help you. It is late in here.

Good night.

Lamin PF Manneh 

>From: Malamin Johnso<[log in to unmask]>

>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Election procedures: Question >Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2001 15:29:35 +0000 > >Goodmorning Members of the L, > >I have questions regarding electoral procedures in The Gambia. I am >one of >the uninformed when it comes to PIEC/IEC procedures so bear with me. > > >1. Are partry officials allowed to accompany ballots to counting > centers? > >2. Are International observers allowed to accompany ballots to > counting centers? > >3. What are the procedures for counting ballots at the designated > counting centers? > >4. What opportunities exist for Yahya to tamper with the ballot >boxes > in transit to counting centers? > >I hope the opposition parties, even thought are not united, can sit >down >and strategize ways to cover all potential holes that Yahya can use >to >tamper with the boxes being tranported. It should be obvious to the >opposition parties that the ONLY way Yahya can poll 51% or more is >by >tampering with boxes in transit or counting centers. Lets be >proactive about >it before it actually happens. They should also watch out for July >22nd tugs >in training. I will appreciate any assistance to enlighten me on the >questions above. > >Regards, >MJohnson > >_________________________________________________________________ >Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at >http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp > >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >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. >----------------------------------------------------------------------------