Gambia Democratic Congress candidate for the Jeshwang constituency
By Buba Gagigo
The Gambia Democratic Congress candidate for the Jeshwang constituency in the 9th April parliamentary election has described the recent CepRass opinion poll survey as ‘misleading’.
“I am baffled by the opinion poll conducted by CEPRASS ahead of the National Assembly Election on Saturday. This poll doesn’t represent the current political realities on the ground, as the targeted base opinions are farfetched from the reality on the ground.
“This election is not one that is based on party line or one that its outcome can be predicted based on the recent Presidential election. We have seen members of political parties shifting their support to candidates of other parties and independents (candidates), based on individual competency. The general beliefs on this election is about the competency of an individual and one who can hold the government accountable to encourage the spirit of checks and balances,” MC Cham Jr told Kerr Fatou on Thursday.
Cham, who doubles as the National Youth President of the Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC), added that the CEPRASS survey has never been closed to the outcome of any election result, saying ‘the last Mayoral election their prediction ranking was an opposite to the final outcome which Rohey Malick Lowe turned out to emerge victorious, when Ebou Faye was predicted as the winner’.
He continued that the respondents in survey results are less than 1% of the electorates in a constituency and said based on that background ‘it is baseless to come up with a poll that no one can justify or see it happening’.
“In my house to house campaign, I have visited almost all the compounds in Jeshwang constituency, and in my encounters, no one knows the existence of such polls, so this begs the question, how did they arrive at such a false conclusion?” the GDC Jeshwang candidate questioned.
He finally urged the opposition to remain firm and know that the poll wouldn’t influence the outcome of the election.
“I urge oppositions to remain firm and know that this poll wouldn’t influence anything to the outcome of the National assembly Election. We are the ones who have direct contacts with almost all the electorates. This is a failed poll or strategy to fool the masses into falling for it, but wouldn’t happen,” he concluded
Although, CepRass survey which predicted victory for Ebou Faye over Rohey Malick Lowe in the 2018 Mayoral election failed; its subsequent survey that predicted victory for the National People’s Party in the 2021 presidential election succeeded.
Meanwhile, whether or not that the latest CepRass survey which predicted NPP as favourite to win a majority of the parliamentary seats in the Saturday’s election will be known in 72 hours.