Six Presidential Candidates contesting in the December 4 Presidential election on Thursday signed the13 point code of conduct for a peaceful and fair Presidential campaign during a forum held at Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Centre.
President Adama Barrow of the National People’s Party (NPP), Honorable Ousainou Darboe of United Democratic Party (UDP), Honorable Halifa Sallah of People’s Democracy for Independent and Socialism (PDOIS), Honorbale Mama Kandeh of Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC), Abdoulie Jammeh of National Unity Party (NUP) and Essa Mbye Faal Independent Candidate signed the code of conduct.
The six candidates expressed their commitment, willingness and resolved to adhered to the thirteen (13) Points Code of Conduct before, during and after the forthcoming Presidential election slated for 4th December, 2021.
The signing followed public request that originated from the Attorney General and Minister of Justice and The Gambian Civil Society Organisations (CSO), for International IDEA to conduct a dialogue on consensus building process on peaceful elections among the various political parties and electoral stakeholders in The Gambia.
International IDEA conducted the first series of dialogue sessions from 12 to 18 September 2021 and it was suggested that the dialogue would resume in November 2021, right after the submission of nominations and approval by the Independent Electoral Commission, (IEC) of the presidential candidates.
The six Presidential Hopefuls agreed among others to run issues based on political campaigns at villages, towns, city, district, and constituency, municipal, regional and at national level; to publicly condemned violence, intimidation and political thuggery at any time during the electoral process; to refrain from and condemned the use of religious, sectarian, ethnic and tribal politics.
The six political leaders also agreed to refrained from or causing others to name their names or in the name of a party any public statement, pronouncements, declarations or speeches that has the potentials to incite any form of public, tribal or religious sentiments and which could impede access to eligible voters by political opponents; to strongly condemned all act of electoral violence whether perpetuated by ourselves or our supporters; to cooperate with the IEC and other political parties and candidates in ensuring orderly scheduling of political activities to avoid clashes of political possessions, meetings, rallies and other activities at the village, town, city, district or constituency level; to not engaged in voter buying; to cooperate with IEC and law enforcement institutions to act professionally and impartially in investigating electoral disputes whether at the police stations, communities, constituency, regional and national levels; to accept the results of the election as announced by the Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
Speaking shortly after the endorsement, Leader of United Democratic Party (UDP) Lawyer Ousainou Darboe expressed his appreciation to the International IDEA for coming up with such an important initiative, arguing that the code of conduct should go beyond the December 4 Presidential election to serve as a subsidiary legislation to the electoral Act.
“I’m gratified that today I have signed a code of conduct that expresses my beliefs, it codified my beliefs that elections must be held transparently and contending candidates must not resort to anything that is not recognised by the law. This code of conduct that I have signed today is a reflection of some of the provisions in our electoral Act and all that we need to do is implementation,” UDP Leader disclosed.
He added: “We’re committing ourselves to sign not because of the camera but because we believe in it. I want to assure everyone here that United Democratic Party and me in particular the candidate will adhere to this code of conduct.
For his part, Essa Mbye Faal, Independent Presidential Candidate also welcomed the development and promised to fully comply with all what have been captured in the document, while referencing his experienced of post electoral violence in Kenya and Estimo where thousands of people were killed because of electoral violence’s.
He disclosed that his team has already developed its own code of conduct that truly reflects on the one signed by the political leaders in a bit to ensuring peaceful and fair election, adding that the signing of the code of conduct recognises the values of Team Essa Mbye Faal.
Faal the only Independent Candidate eligible for the forthcoming December 4, election promises that team Essa Mbye Faal for President will abide by the code of conduct signed, adding that the document will go a long way in strengthening the democratic processes of the country. Others including Honorable Seedy Keita, Minister of Trade representing President Adama Barrow Party leader of National People’s Party (NPP), Abdoulie Jammeh leader of National Unity Party (NUP), and Amadou Kah, deputy party leader Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC), all described the coming of the code of conduct as timely, while promising to fully complied with all the content of the document.