Gasa, I read the following from the report and take it to be a critic,unless otherwise. For Freedom Saiks "....Once the nominations were completed , the NRP and PDOIS were the only opposition parties sponsoring candidate s, and only 15 constituencies were contested. In early June, the National Assembly passed several amendments that reduc ed the power of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to control man y fundamental election matters. The National Assembly gained the power to set the registration requirements for political parties and change const ituency boundaries; local chieftaincies became presidential appointments instead of elected positions; voter registration requirements were relaxe d; and the IEC lost the right to question voters about their citizenship during the registration process......" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or 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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~