By: Mariama Njie
President of Peace Ambassadors The Gambia, a youth and peace right group has disclosed that the Election Watch Observers who were deployed in all constituencies during campaign period witnessed abuse of State resources and buying of votes by candidates and political parties.
Babucarr Sambu who was speaking at a press briefing last Friday told journalists that the Election Watch Committee has trained and deployed a total of 59 campaign observers to observe the campaign in all constituencies and regions within The Gambia and came out with their first half findings so far.
“Observers report mostly showed that the parties and candidates are freely conducting their campaigns with no restrictions and generally in compliance with the Code of Campaign Ethics for parties,”
“However, observers reported witnessing or hearing some violation, 22 of 53 constituency observers witnessed or heard reports of use of State resources, such as government vehicles during campaign. As well 13 of 53 constituency observers witnessed or heard reports of candidates providing money and gifts to supporters,” he said.
A few observers also reported hearing instances of buying voters cards, Sambu added.
Meanhwile, Mr Sambu went on saying the first half of campaign period has been largely peaceful that Election Watch Observers witnessed only few incidents of violence.
“The Election Watch Committee strongly condemns the propagation of hate speech by candidates of political parties and supporters,” he stressed.
As their key recommendations, he said candidates and political parties should focus on winning votes through their programs and policies rather than purchasing votes with money and gifts.
“As a body, our mandate stops at telling the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) what we have observed. It is now left to them but we urged them to closely monitor the actions of political parties to ensure they comply with the Code of Conduct and Code of Election Campaign ethics,” he noted.
The Election Watch Committee is a partnership of 3 organizations and other network members with different expertise collaborating to observe the 2021 Presidential Election in The Gambia.
The organizations include Peace Ambassadors Gambia, ACTIVISTA and National Youth Parliament.