From The Independent The election was neither free nor fair Assan Musa Camara challenges IEC The chairman of the opposition coalition Assan Musa Camara has said that the presidential election was “neither free nor fair by all democratic standards.” In his first pubic reaction since the election results were announced Mr. Camara told The Independent that in his capacity as the coalition’s chairman, he “cannot accept the election as free and fair since the violence on the eve of the election resulted in the shooting of an opposition supporter.” According to Assan Camara, he was leading the coalition campaign in the Baddibus when APRC supporters attacked their campaign team, a matter, which he claimed, was reported to the police but no action was taken. Camara further explained that cases of violence against opposition supporters were also reported around the country. “An election where opposition supporters were arrested and consequently detained leading to their inability to vote cannot be called free and fair,” he alleged. On the registration of voters, Mr Camara said that prior to the election, the opposition had informed the IEC that there has been a further registration of voters despite the fact that registration had closed. This he said resulted in the situation where some people wee given voter cards even though their names were not on the register. “The opposition had insisted before the election that any person with a voter’s card whose name is not on the registers should not be allowed to vote, and the IEC had accepted the point,” Camara asserted. According to the opposition chairman the IEC had issued out directives through the media that anybody who is in possession of a voter’s card but whose name is not on the registers should not vote. “Surprisingly the IEC again issued contrary directives on the eve of the election to all election officials that they should allow those people whose names are not on the register to vote.” The opposition coalition stalwart insisted that it was this situation that resulted in a surplus of voters during the counting of results. “When I checked the results, I found out that there was a surplus of voters varying from one constituency to another, if you add them up, you find that they are substantial and could have benefited one party,” he said. “I cannot accept this as small errors nor do I accept the mistakes that were made in the US Presidential Election to be repeated here” he pointed out. The veteran politician called on the IEC to explain why they changed their minds on this issue “at the late hour after the matter had been agreed upon.” Camara again reiterated his position that he supports Opposition Coalition flag-bearer Lawyer Darboe conceding defeat. Assan Musa Camara called on the Jammeh administration “to institute an enquiry and investigate the killing of a coalition supporter and the arson attack on the house of an APRC parliamentarian. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>> To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>