The Chief Observer of European Union Election Mission to the
Gambia National Assembly Election Miroslav poche , has described the recently
parliamentary election as free and faire and free from violent and the people witnessed
a peaceful and engaging campaign where the freedom of assembly and association
were respected and candidates convey their message freely to the electorate ,he
acknowledged that, the presidential’s nationwide tour had an impact on the campaign.
verbal attempts to polarise the
electorate on basis of ethnicity and the
handing out of goods and financial aid, were also observer by EU election
observer mission .
Miroslav poche made the statement at press
conference hall, on Saturday at a local hotel in cape point Bakau , lamented
that, the December 2016 presidential election paved the way for democratic
transition, whiles these election re-established political freedom.
He hailed the current
independence electoral commission , poche , said the IEC enjoys broad trust in its
independence , it has numerous responsibilities , includes the registration of
political parties , voter registration , voter education, conduct of elections yet it does not command
its own budget, which could hamper its independence , but the IEC met key operation deadlines and
fulfilled its mandates despaired budgetary and time constraints .
Delighting on the constitution which articulated a respect
for democracy and includes a guarantee of genuine periodic election, he said
during the previous regime, the legal system was severely compromised and the
rules of law was undermined by a progregressive erosion of the independence of
judiciary, the supreme court has exclusive jurisdiction to determine the
validity of election to the National Assembly but has not sat for two years and
has currently just one member. During
this electoral process prevailing laws have been applied and interpreted in
line with intention to protect human rights.
He added the delimitation
of constituencies does not take into account the principal of equal
distribution of the electorate amongst the constituencies, falling far short of
ensuring the equality of the vote. Representation of the electorate is highly
unequal , the most extreme examples are Janjanbureh with just 1,980 votes ,
compared to Serrekunda with 46, 502
votes each electing a single National Assembly representative
In her part, Jean
Lambert, head of the Delegation, stated that, during the observation they witness
high level of respect for the procedures
by all participant, “ we were especially impressed by the good
Collaboration between the polling staff and the representative
of the political parties, the low-key presence and collaborative attitude of police
greatly benefited the process “ she said
“ we found the traditional Gambia election procedure clear
and efficient , beside being voter friendly, it allow for fast and transparent
counting process, we would like to encourage the IEC to explore ways to include
the Diaspora into the electoral system “
She added that during
the election process they observer some polling officers taking note of the
gender of the voters however, whiles we noticed a significant number of women
taking part in the vote, we regret that there were only twenty women running,
of whom just three elected, we also observed very few people with disability
taking part in the vote although the ones we saw were duly assisted, we trust
that, the IEC will take further measures to improve accessibility.
No comments:
Post a Comment