One of the opposition parties, Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC) has called on the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to extend the voter registration days to enable eligible Gambians to get registered.
In a statement signed by GDC leader states “The Gambia Democratic Congress under the leadership of Hon. Mamma Kandeh wishes to call on the IEC to possibly extend the number of days allocated for the period of voter registration to enable every eligible Gambian who produces the right documents to get registered.”
He said we must also be mindful not to register underage Gambians, adding “The GDC Party as a stakeholder in the upcoming elections in The Gambia is quite worried about the recent reports of registration malpractices. It has therefore taken it upon itself to help ensure that the process is done in a fair and accurate manner to ensure all eligible Gambians are registered.”
“We would like to share our findings following a consultative survey on voter registration,” a statement from the party stated on 3rd June,” the statement added.
It said the voter registration process is very slow and frustrating for the would-be-electorates since its commencement in some of the areas in the country.
According to the statement, the GDC conducted a survey which revealed that some of the voter card printing machines are extremely weak and slow in the processing of voter registrations.
“The Gambia Democratic Congress under the leadership of Hon. Mamma Kandeh wishes to call on the IEC to possibly extend the number of days allocated for the period of voter registration to enable every eligible Gambian who produces the right documents to get registered. We must also be mindful not to register underage Gambians,” GDC said.
Meanwhile, Makan Khan, the Director of Training and Communications at the independent Electoral Commission said only eligible Gambians should be registered.
“When we talk about voters registration, it is about those Gambians that are eligible to be registered as voters. Of course, these are adult Gambians. These are the people whom we expect to be registered and participate in elections in the Gambia but not people who will not be 18 years by December 4 [2021],” he said.
“Voter registration is a process. The process will continue till 11th of July, and after which the process will end. We will have time where the provisional list of voters will be displayed in communities so that the list can be scrutinized by the public. After that, people who may have objections and complaints can lodge their appeals at the revising court,” he concluded.
