Mr. Sanneh, I would like to agree with you that, the reason for the sudden emergence of independent candidate victories was mainly due to the fact that the APRC cnadidates were actually the party choice as you have so eloquently pointed out. Wether or not the party supporters agreed to those choices was the main factor as to which candidate would be elected ,thus demonstrating and reaffirming a classic case that power belongs to the people. The main issue and to some extent a major disadvantage for the APRC candidates this time around , was that some people thought that the actual independent candidates with the exception of Pa Sallah Jeng who has always been an independent, should NOT have been the actual APRC party choices ,and I quote a familiar theme from some observers on the ground " We would not allow candidates to be forced upon us, even if our party affiliation with the APRC". Besides the low voter turnout, what has happened according to some is that some of the INDEPENDENT candidates decided to run regardless of party endorsement and have demonstrated that they understand their constituencies BETTER. My only issue is that,given that some of these independent candidates were APRC, I would not be surprised if they decide to rejoin their former party again in the near futiure to reaffirm that they should ALWAYS be the candidates representing the party. It is called crossing carpets or Recrossing carpets for that matter. In closing, I also wish PA SALLAH JENG good luck and hope that he will continue to demonstrate the exemplary skills in every aspect of his dealings. Like you, he has been a good mentor to both me and the rest of the family here in Atlanta. We will miss seeing him in ATLANTA. On behalf of his family here in Atlanta, we wish him well. Best REgards, Ablie Njie-Lekbi >From: abdou sanneh <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: SOME ELECTION RESULTS >Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 00:44:01 -0700 > >Matarr I know Pa Sallah Jeng being my teacher at >Muslim High School.He is determine and loves the >country. Mr Jeng have never subscribe to Jammeh's >dictatorial rule.He has join UDP during the >presidential election.The people of Banjul can no >longer tolerate Jammeh's hand-picking cohorts as their >choice.I hope the government will give him the >opportunity to address the development needs of the >city on non-partisan base. _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.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 To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~