The Gambia Parliamentary Election is free and faire

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.