Culled from The Gambia Daily Observer.

By-election, Local Government election dates announced

The chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, Gabriel John Roberts, yesterday announced two dates for the impending by-election in Kombo North and the long overdue local government elections throughout the country. Thursday, March 28, 2002 is the date chosen for the Kombo North by-election while the local government elections are set aside for Thursday, April 25, 2002. The official campaign period for the by-election starts from Friday, March 15 to Tuesday March 26, 2002 while the Local Government election campaign period lasts from Monday, April 8 to Tuesday April 23, 2002. A day at least before both election dates, according to IEC official reports, would be "no political activity" day.

Extending condolences to the family of Fabakary Cham, the late representative for Kombo North, the IEC chairman said they were allowing “the customary 40 days of mourning to be observed before allowing political activity to commence." To keep with the election laws, however, said the chairman, compelled them to make formal announcement for the election within the required period. The Local Government elections, Mr Roberts said, had been pending for long because the IEC was waiting for the National Assembly to pass a legislation that would regulate the operations of the local authorities.

The tardy pace, at which the bill was progressing, however, resulted in the commission taking the issue of the local government elections to the Supreme Court for intervention,” he said. The IEC had also held meetings with the authorities of the present local government establishments across the country to get a final picture of the boundaries of wards within the respective areas. A notice, he said had been with the local media institutions, inviting parties interested in contesting the election to collect nomination papers from the IEC in Brikama for the by-election in Kombo North.