IEC Chairman
By: Landing Ceesay
The Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) Alieu Momarr Njai has said that no loser in the December election should blame the Commission.
“I don’t see anything more transparent than this, and I believe that in the whole World, no country can beat our electoral system. So, no loser in the December election should blame the IEC. We will conduct the election freely and fairly, if you lose then blame yourself but do not blame the IEC.”
“At the end of the voter registration, we always publish and paste the names of people in the polling stations they have registered for transparency purposes. We also give 30 days to all the parties to come and object anything they think is not correct,” he stated.
The IEC Chairman further said that The Gambia’s electoral system is among the best in the whole World; adding that on Election Day, IEC allows all parties to send two agents in all the polling stations in the country for them to witness the election from the beginning to the end.
“The votes are counted in their [agents] presence on the spot. The agents will also sign the result sheets before it will be delivered for broadcast. Two hours after the closing of voting, all the parties will know those who have won and those who have lost before me as the IEC Chairman will even know.”
“Whenever I go out of the country for election duties, I always tell my counterparts to emulate The Gambia’s standard of election. Because it is among the best in the whole World. IEC invites all parties and their agents from the beginning of the voter registration to the last day of it,” Njai said
He concluded by assuring the electorates that the commission will maintain the spot counting come December 4 2021 presidential election.
The IEC Chairman Njai, made these remarks at the handing over ceremony of the commission’s West Coast Region office after being refurbished and furnished by the United Nations Development Programme on 9th of April, 2021.