(JollofNews) – An opposition leader in the Gambia has questioned the validity of last Thursday’s National Assembly election results.
Mamma Kandeh of the Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC) said the elections were never free and fair and his party has documented serious irregularities in many constituencies across the country.
“We have gathered lots of information of what have transpired during the electoral process, which we are not satisfied with. We will make it available to every Gambian and the whole world so that everybody will see what have happened during this last parliamentary election,” he told reporters in Banjul.
Mr Kandeh also took issues with the decision of President Adama Barrow to tour the country during the campaign period. He said the president’s tour has heavily influenced voters.
He added: “President Barrow went on a nationwide tour and although he is not a member of any political party, he used the tour to campaign on behalf of political parties calling themselves coalition candidates. This to me is cheating.
And it was disappointing to hear the president tell people that he is happy to have achieved a third number of parliamentarians to work with. This means that he is a president of a few and is not there to work with others.”
“We have also got records of him calling on people to vote for coalition candidates even though the electoral commission has made it clear that no candidate was contesting the election on the coalition’s ticket.
“We have also seen various candidates using the president’s photo and coalition symbol on their posters during the election, thereby misleading voters. This was completely unfair and disappointingly, it was never picked up by the election observers.”
The GDC boss rejected accusations that he had used his campaign speeches to fan tribalism and induce voters.
“The GDC never violated any election law,” he said. If us helping hospitals, schools, building roads and giving water to needy Gambians is a violation of an act then we will continue to violate that act.
“I have recordings of my speeches and people are welcome to listen to them at any time to see whether I have ever said in the Lower River Region (LRR) that Fulas should rally behind GDC. If I wanted to fan tribalism, then I would have gone to Fulladou not in LRR.