Africa
….declares presidential election peaceful
By Anthony Isibor.
FOLLOWING the conclusion and declaration of Adama Barrow, incumbent president of The Gambia, as the winner of the presidential election held in the country on Saturday, December 4, the ECOWAS Electoral Observation Mission, EOM, deployed to monitor the election, has issued a preliminary report describing it as calm and peaceful with no major incident reported.
The EOM stated this after noting the declaration made by the Gambian Independent Electoral Commission on Sunday, December 5, which announced in the public media the final results of the election despite the controversies, accusations and counter accusations and the rejection on early Sunday, December 5.
The EOM’s observation was contained in a preliminary statement signed by Ernest Bai Koroma, former president of Sierra Leone and head of the mission, deployed to monitor The Gambia election as part of ECOWAS support to the democratic process in the country.
Realnews reports that In a bid to effectively monitor and observe the presidential election of December 4, the ECOWAS commission deployed a Core Team of four Experts as well as 12 long-term and 62 short-term observers.
Other members of the mission were drawn from officials of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the ECOWAS Member States, Electoral Experts from the Electoral Commissions of the ECOWAS Member States, Members of the ECOWAS Parliament, ECOWAS Court, Ambassadors accredited to ECOWAS, Journalists as well as Members of the Civil Society.
Upon his arrival in The Gambia on December 1, Koroma, met with Barrow, and also held consultations with Mariam Jack-Denton, speaker of the Parliament, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Gambia Hassan Bubacar Jallow, as well as the Minster and officials of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice and the Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission.
The mission also met with the candidates and representatives of the political parties competing in the election, and held consultations before and after the election with the Heads of Observation Mission of African Union (AU) H.E. Ngalema Motlanthe, former President of the Republic of South Africa, Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa, EISA, H.E. John D. MAHAMA, former President of the Republic of Ghana; the Commonwealth, H.E. Olusegun OBASANJO, former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; Representatives of West African Elders Forum, H.E. Goodluck E. JONATHAN, former President of Nigeria, and H.E. Kadré Désiré Ouédraogo, former President, ECOWAS Commission, as well as the Head of Observation Mission of European Union and ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions, ECONEC., including H.E Annadif Khatir Mahamat Saleh, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of United Nations for West Africa and the Sahel, UNOWAS.
The preliminary statement also said that pre-election litigations were concluded in a manner that encouraged litigants and the Independent Electoral Commission to acknowledge and respect the independence of the judiciary in electoral dispute adjudication. This development reinforced the role of the judiciary in the resolution of electoral disputes in marked difference to the previous election.
According to the statement, the mission was deployed in compliance with the provisions of Articles 42(2) and 44(b) of the 1999 ECOWAS Protocol relating to the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management, Resolution, Peacekeeping and Security, Article 12 of the 2001 Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, and Article 53(c) of the 2008 ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework.
“As part of its preventive diplomacy activities in support of peaceful presidential election, the ECOWAS Commission launched a National Peace Campaign and Dialogue on Democratic Reforms aimed at promoting Youth Participation in Political Processes in The Gambia from 29 to 27 th October 2021, in collaboration with the African Union Secretariat of the African Governance Architecture (AU-AGA) and the National Youth Council of The Gambia (NYC).
“The Mission took note of the signing of the Janjanbureh Peace Pledge that was signed by the Political Parties in the period leading up to the election and displayed exceptional commitments to the code. The campaign took place in all the regions of the country in a peaceful and conducive atmosphere. Political parties and their candidates actively carried out their campaigns and had the opportunity to disseminate their manifestoes and programs to the electorate.
“The main method of the campaign was through street rallies based on an agreed schedule among the political parties and candidates. The Mission notes that security protection was provided for all the presidential candidates during the election campaigns and throughout the electoral process,” it said.
Supported by the Office of the Permanent Representative of the ECOWAS Commission in the Gambia, Vabah Gaynor, and the technical team from the ECOWAS Commission led by General Francis Awagbe Behanzin, Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, the mission organized training and consultative engagements for relevant stakeholders from September 13 to 16.
“The training which held at two regions of the country, namely, the West Coast and Upper River Regions, focused on the use of dialogue and mediation as tools for preventing and mitigating electoral related conflicts and disputations.
“The Mission notes the high level of citizen mobilization, advocacy and sensitization carried out by the Civil Society in promoting a conducive environment for credible, inclusive and violence-free election, it said.
The EOM team also added that after carefully analyzing the information received from the observers deployed in the field, it noted the following that there was early arrival of polling officials at polling stations, which enabled voting to commence at the stipulated time of 8:00 a.m. in most of the polling centres visited; the presence, in sufficient quantities, of electoral materials in all the polling stations across the country; the visible presence of security agents (two security personnel per polling station) discharging their duties in accordance with the provisions of the law and that the polling officials were efficient and professional and demonstrated adequate knowledge of their duties.
It noted also that with the exception of IEC staff; COVID health protocols were not observed in over 70% of polling stations visited although and that provisions were made by the IEC for hand sanitizers and masks.
It stated that there was a gender mix with women well represented as polling officials and party agents and as security officers in some polling stations;
“The agents of National People Party (NPP), Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC), United Democratic Party (UDP) and Peoples Democratic Organization for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS) were present at almost all the polling stations visited, while the agents of Essa Faal and National Unity Party (NUP) were only present in some polling stations;
“There was the use of indelible ink to indicate that voters had cast their ballot; All voters were requested to present their voter’s cards before they were allowed to vote at all the polling stations observed.
Other observations are that priority was given to vulnerable persons including the elderly, pregnant women, nursing mothers and necessary assistance were afforded to persons with disability to enable them cast their ballot and the setup of most of polling stations visited (98,95%) ensured secrecy of the ballot; International Observers from AU, EU, EISA, Red Cross, Commonwealth, NDI and observers including Gambia Participate, Gambia Peace Ambassadors, WANEP were met on the field.
It noted that “There was an impressive turnout of voters at the opening of poll in almost all the polling stations; Polls closed in all the polling stations visited at the stipulated time of 5 p.m. The vote counting and tallying processes were carried out in a transparent, very simple and professional manner, in full view of party agents, observers, and security agents.
“There was cooperation and the non-adversary relationship between the electoral officials and party agents which facilitated easy and efficient conduct of the election.”
It commended the simple yet effective voting system adopted by the Gambian Electoral body.
Parts of the preliminary statement reads: “The Mission is impressed with the simple but effective voting system, based on the use of marbles being dropped in each candidate’s ballot drum thereby preventing spoilt ballots or invalid votes.
“The Mission is appreciative on the conditions in which the election was organized as well as the speed and transparency in the collation, transmission and declaration of the provisional results by the IEC.
“Consequently, the ECOWAS Mission congratulates the Government and People of The Gambia and all stakeholders for their efforts made so far in ensuring that the election was conducted in a peaceful atmosphere.
“The Mission congratulates and invites the incoming President to increase efforts to meet the challenges of social stability, economic recovery, democratic governance and consolidation, peace and security in an inclusive manner.”
It also congratulated the IEC, the security forces and all stakeholders involved in the management of the electoral process and salutes the great political maturity that Gambians has displayed throughout this process.
Although the mission said that it will provide a comprehensive report at the end of the entire process, it, however, recommended that “The IEC should continue to communicate developments regarding the electoral process to the general public and promptly share information in order to discourage misinformation through social media and other means
It also recommended that the capacity of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) should be reinforced by establishing a Legal Unit and the appointment of a Communication and Database Management Expert.
It urged the government to review and revitalize the Constitutional and Electoral processes to promote democracy and consolidate democratic governance in the country.
It appealed to the candidates in the presidential election to respect the results of the election and urged them to resort, if the need arises, to legal channels to resolve any electoral dispute.
The ECOWAS Observer Mission added that through the Long-Term Observers and the Office of the Resident Representative of the President of the ECOWAS Commission in The Gambia, it would continue to monitor the post-electoral developments and expressed appreciation to the competent authorities of The Gambia for the measures taken to facilitate the deployment of observers for the election.
– Dec. 7, 2021 @ 17:20 GMT |
A.I
Tags: ECOWAS Election Observer Mission Gambia election
