The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) says the recent presidential election in The Gambia was peaceful with no major incident.
In its preliminary report on the election held on 04 December, the ECOWAS Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) stated that there was an impressive turnout of voters at the opening of poll in most of the polling stations.
The ECOWAS mission also noted the presence, in sufficient quantities, of electoral materials in all the polling stations across the country and the visible presence of security agents (two security personnel per polling station) discharging their duties in accordance with the provisions of the law.
‘Except for IEC staff, [Covid-19] health protocols were not observed in over 70 [percent] of polling stations visited although provisions were made by the IEC for hand sanitisers and masks’, it said in the report.
‘There was a gender mix, with women well represented as polling officials and party agents and as security officers in some polling stations’.
The report also said, ‘There was cooperation and non-adversary relationship between the electoral officials and party agents which facilitated easy and efficient conduct of the election.
‘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 ECOWAS mission also observed that the setup of 98.95 percent of polling stations visited ensured secrecy of the ballot.
The mission appealed to the candidates 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 last parliamentary elections in 2017 had low turnout, incomplete updating of the voter registry, and poor organisation of vote-collation processes, according to Freedom House.
Freedom House rated the West Africa nation ‘partly free’ in its 2021 Freedom in the World study of political rights and civil liberties worldwide, with the country earning 46 out of a possible 100 points.
Source: ECOWAS
Photo source: Zohra Bensemra/Reuters
