By: Mariama Njie
The Election Watch Committee (EWC) proffered recommendations to IEC, political parties and security to consider ahead of the April 2022 parliamentary election.
Speaking at a session organized by Peace Ambassador the Gambia to reflect on post-election, Omar Cham on behalf of election watch committee said “IEC should further breakdown polling streams to avoid long queuing which may result in demotivating voters.”
He suggested that the independent electoral commission should encourage and make arrangements for political party agents to be able to observe the transfer of ballot boxes to the collation centres to promote transparency.
“They should upgrade their process to respond to the changing electoral landscape by digitalizing its voters register,” he added.
In the interest of citizen participation and transparency, Cham stated that IEC should provide adequate time for individual scrutiny of candidate nomination documents.
Meanwhile, he recommends political parties to adequately train party agents on the procedures of Election Day voting and appropriate actions to take in instances of procedures observe.
“Political parties should actively discourage tribal remarks and propagation of tribalism by their respective party supporters,” he said.
He added that security officers should be trained on appropriate response to election related conflict before, during and after elections, saying security officers should continue to demonstrate neutrality and professionalism in dealing with electoral related matters.
