Many voters during the presidential election lost interest in the MPs election: Pix by Modou S. Joof |
In the country’s largest town cum
commercial centre, Serrekunda, two of the three constituencies - Serrekunda
East and Serrekunda West did not vote as ruling APRC’s incumbent SulaymanJoof
and FabakaryTombongJatta respectively were returned unopposed.
Though the day is declared a public
holiday, it was business as usual at the main business center, the Serrekunda
market, and the traffic was also uninterrupted.
The low voter turnout is linked
to the opposition boycott of the polls on allegations of an unleveled political
playing field, but the electoral commission rubbished such claim.
“I do not think that the low turnout
is as a result of the opposition boycott of the polls,” argued Daniel Assan
Gomez, assistant returning officer for the Serrekunda Central.
“I think we still lack education in
Gambia pertaining to National Assembly elections. I do not think we are taking
this election seriously.”
In one of five polling stations at
the Serrekunda Primary School - in Serrekunda Central where independent
candidate Sheikh Omar Saho was pitted against the ruling party’s Sainey O.
Jaiteh - only 124 people of 570 cast their votes, six hours after polls were open.
Some 33, 761 people voted in
Serrekunda Central during last year’s presidential election, compared to 11,
071 in the 2012 parliamentary election.
“The turnout is not good but I think
the Independent Electoral Commission, IEC, is not to blame, it has done its
best to sensitise the people on radio and television,” Daniel Assan Gomez
further argued. “I think all Gambians should be blamed for this, especially
those who choose not to come out and vote.”
At 2pm, less than 200 of 770 people
voted in one of two polling stations at the Gaddafi Mosque in Serrekunda. The
presiding officer Alagie Sowe confirmed the low turnout, and was hopeless of
recording more votes.
By 5pm local time, only a hundred of
628 people cast their votes in one of three polling stations at Barthez in Serrekunda. Polls close an hour later.
When the results were announced early
Friday night by the IEC chairman, Mustapha L. Carayol, the
incumbent,SaineyOusainouJaiteh won the seat again. He secured 5974 votes while
his challenger, Sheikh Omar Saho got 5097 votes.
Voting only took place in 23 of 48
districts across the country in 510 polling stations.
Reports of voter apathy have been
recorded in some of the most populous areas of the Gambia: Brikama, the
regional capital of the West Coast Region, the town of Bakau, the Gambian
capital, Banjul and other parts of the country.
Early in March, six of seven active
opposition parties said they can’t go into “sham election” and decided to
boycott the parliamentary election on grounds that their recommendations to the
IEC for an even political playing field have not been met.
In the run-up to the polls, the
office of President YahyaJammeh issued a statement warning supporters of the
ruling APRC party not to vote for independent candidates since it “is the same
as voting for the opposition.”
The statement, March 23, 2012, followed conspicuous divisions within the
APRC party, after some of its members decided to stand against the party’s
choice of candidates.
Gambia's presidential elections in November was widely criticized by the Sub-regional economic bloc, ECOWAS.
Gambia's presidential elections in November was widely criticized by the Sub-regional economic bloc, ECOWAS.
Author: Modou S. Joof
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