Suntou,
 
Thank you for the political memories of my late father. I often hear stories of his political expeditions although I was too young or more focused on school to appreciate those dynamics. If anyone can, yourself, Hon. Hamat Bah, Buba Baldeh, Alhajie Touray, BaaTappa, Alajie Mpamara, Chief Jatta of Wulli, the then Kantora Chief, Ebrima, Sidia Jatta, and the multitudes who narrate untold stories to me to include the people of Sandu, can bear more vividly on it. The stories go far beyond electoral numbers and for me it is personal honour to more comprehensively remember my dear father.
 
My father's allure includes his careers as a teacher at Armitage in Georgetown and his students who honour me for one reason or the other for being one of his children. I am confident his efforts in teaching and politics had earned him both friends and enemies and I shall be ever proud of him for his singular desire for common prosperity and commoner salvation. If it were not for him, I will not have had the knowledge and discernments in religion, both Islam and Christianity. I have been impressed with his ever-optimistic view of the world before and after Gambia gained independence and he joined the PPP to do the people's business. My father spoke Fula, Sarahule, Mandinka, wollof, and Jola with equal ease. I did not grow up knowing which one of these ethnicities I would more likely belong to. Only that they are the languages of our community of which we are a part. Our ancestral home in Gambia lies between large Sarahule, Mandinka, Fula, and Jola communities. I remmember vividly when folk would share with us that the Darbos are an aberration in Sandu. We have not been exclusively aligned with any ethnicity but we welcomed all ethnicities. The colonial guest house in Sandu was erected behind our ancestral home. I have always wondered how that came to be? Perhaps in honour of our family's sacrifices with the colonial armies overseas. I would like your perspective on our family as I'm sure you are aware. The Tourays are our uncles by way of uncle Sidia and the late honourable chief of Wulli, Kabaa Jatta. 
 
I adore and thank my father for having been my father. I am humbled by the admiration of folk whose lives he had impacted, one way or the other. The common thread in the stories was that he had been positive if unyielding force in the lives he touched. Indeed he has taught us to view his political opponents as our bretheren, only representing an alternative point of view. I therefore look forward, with honourable reminiscence, to your stories of him and from your point of view.
 
Haruna. MQJGDT. Darbo. Al Mu'Umin.    
 
In a message dated 10/3/2008 2:57:10 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes:
 
Thursday, 2 October 2008

Voting patterns in the Gambia

The 1992 Election result and total MP party percentage score. THIS IS THE VOTES CAST FOR THE RESPECTIVE PARTY MP’S.
Overall votes percentage of vote
The PPP TOTAL VOTES 109,059 54.23%
The NCP 48,845 24.29%
The GPP 13,937 6.93%
The PDP 9,291 4.62%
The PDOIS 4,632 2.30%
The INDEPENDENTS 15,331 7.62
201,095 100%

the total votes for the over all respective party MP's was as usual favourable to the PPP. the strange thing is, even the new party founded by eccentric business man Solo Darboe, The PDP collected more per head mp votes than PDOIS. another significant port of call is the existence of independent candidates in Gambian political land scape. With over 3 parties in our country, why do we still have independent candidates? is this a failure on the part of all our establish political parties?
it will be interesting to analyse recent election trends.

THE TOTAL PERCENTAGE FOR EACH PARTY LEADER IS HAS FOLLOWS: 1992 election
DK JAWARA PPP 117,549 58.48%
SHERIFF DIBBA NCP 44,639 22.21%
ASSAN MUSA GPP 16,287 8.10%
LAMIN BOJANG PDP 11,999 5.97%
SEDIA JATTA PDOIS 10,543 5.24%
2O1,017 100%

Source: the political history of the Gambia 1816-1994, pages 330-344.
Initially my interest was about the voting pattern of my own constituency Sandu. But then it is apparent that there is a need to analyse the number of Gambians voting and their party of choice.

It seems to me quiet an overwhelming number of Gambians aren’t voting in numbers. If our population is said to be over a million, then two hundred thousand odd voters is too minimal for effective democracy.
Now coming to the election history of Sandu, where the honourable Musa S. Darboe dominated until his final retirement from contesting election after losing the 1982 general elections to Alhagie AK Touray.
The vote counts for the candidates are: 1982 election
Musa S Darboe scored PPP 2,480
Alhagie AK Touray Independent 3,193
Kissima AK Sillah NCP 250

This means AK Touray won the elections with a large margin. Musa Darboe was a heavy weight. Ak Touray did his campaign with the Basse's famous orator Buba Baldeh who contested in Jimara and won as an independent. Buba's fame and mass support was overwhelming, his car is sometimes lifted up by jubilant supporters.
I will try to shed some light on the records of the late honourbale Musa S. Darboe's election results for the 1970's. the bye-election he won after Batapa was became insane. musa won the bye-election.
more later.
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