By Sainabou Sambou
As presidential election due tomorrow, Gambians have urged the Independent Electoral Commission to avoid making last election mistake just like the commission did in the last election whereby two results, within a week, was announced which nearly plunge the country into chaos when former president Yahya Jammeh made a U-turn to annul the result and cited an election rig.
The reaction of the then president made thousands of Gambians fled to neighbouring countries such as Senegal for safety of their lives before forces of the regional bloc finally forced out Jammeh to flee into exile.
As Gambian electorates head to polls tomorrow to elect their new leader who will lead them for the next five years in office, Fatoumatta Njie called for peace and tolerance amid the election period.
“No man is perfect and my advice to the IEC is that let them not repeat the mistakes that they did in 2016 by announcing the election results twice. They should take their time and do their work as expected of them,” she urged.
“I will also advise the youth to go out in their numbers and vote and after voting let them go back to their homes and wait for the election results, and let them not engage in any violence act in the community,” she added.
Binta Njie expected free and fair election saying “I like the way IEC is working and I’m sure that the election will be free and fair.”
“If the IEC is corrupt then CA and GMC leaders who sue them will not win their case so this shows that the election will be free and fair. I will advise the IEC not to repeat the same mistake they did in 2016 by announcing the election results twice,” she said.
Lamin Jammeh also echoed similar remark saying “this year election will be fair because the people working at the IEC are all Gambians, because they know that if they make any mistake, it will cause violence in the country.”
“IEC should learn from their past mistakes of 2016 whereby they announced the election results twice, let them be vigilant and do their work as expected of them hence they are not given a time frame which shows that they should not be in a hurry to count or announce the election results,” he said.
According to Sulayman Dampha, this year election will be the best election in the Gambia and it will be free and fair because he has trust in the IEC.