By Mustapha Jarju & Binta Jaiteh
Ebrima Tabora Manneh, leader of the People’s Alliance Party (PAP) has accused the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of foul play in holding back to register his political party ahead of December presidential election.
Speaking at a news conference Held at Lika’s Restaurant, Senegambia, fumed and said “we will act responsibly with respect and we will not break any laws but we have been highly disappointed with the conduct of the IEC and we suspected foul play.”
“We disagree with them and we don’t believe it makes any sense, because by the time they were preparing the endorsement it was only the old voter cards that were available. This was in April before IEC begin issuing the new voter cards in the country, which started in May 2021,” he added.
According to him, IEC never communicated to his party about the issue of the new voter cards for registration of political parties.
He urged his supporters to remain calm over the issue, noting that his supporters are law-abiding citizens who have been very supportive to him, saying it is difficult for them to tell their supporters either they will be standing under the party`s ticket during the presidential election or not which is causing a lot of confusion among their supporters.”
“They have the right to challenge the IEC which will be the last resort for them as a party because they don’t want to be criticizing the IEC as they want to make sure that the peace continues to reign as the country has given the IEC to work accountably as we are in a critical election year,” he continued.
Meanwhile, “we have informed IEC that if we are not registered by the 30th of October when the nomination supposed to start, we will stand as an independent Candidate” the registration of PAP lies in the mercy of the IEC,” he said.