Hon Mrs Fatou Jahumpa Ceesay As a subscriber to the "l" I wonder whether you will give us your thoughts about Hon Halifa Sallah's proposals. Please read the following news article for today's Independent Newspaper Electoral Commission Urged to Nullify Nominations The Independent (Banjul) April 15, 2002 Posted to the web April 15, 2002 By Omar Bah Banjul The National Assembly member for Serrekunda Central Honourable Halifa Sallah has urged the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to cancel the just-ended nomination for the impending local government elections and prepare the grounds for elections at a more appropriate date. Honourable Sallah who was explaining the reason for PDOIS' non- participation in the election process, said that they had always been very ready to participate and that many committees have already identified the people they would want to be their candidates. But according to him, the PDOIS leadership was not sure whether those committees had used the right criteria for their selections. "When they approached the central committee, we tried to find out whether the IEC was relying on the Local Government Act, which exists because of the lack of enactment of a new one or not. We discovered that the IEC was quoting the clauses of the Local Government Bill 2002 to utilize it as the criteria for qualification" he explained. He asserted that they had to tell their people that the bill could only become law if it ere passed by the National Assembly and assented to by the president and published in the gazettes within 30 days of its passing. Up to the time of nominations, he went on, the bill had not become law and they could not give advice to their members. "That is why PDOIS is absent at the nominations and we are still hoping that the IEC will discover their blunder, accept it in good faith, cancel the nomination and schedule a new date for nominations and elections" he said. Asked what would their option be, if IEC does not take heed of their view Honorable Sallah said that they are open to many options. According to him, the party will have to review the development and come up with an appropriate position. Notwithstanding, he said they believe it is in the interest of the IEC and the nation at large to allow the Local Government Act to come into force, educate the masses on its provisions, before holding elections. "This will bring Gambians into the process with more inspiration and offer a new start" he opined. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Copyright © 2002 The Independent. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~