By Mafugi Ceesay
The deputy spokesperson of APRC yesterday told The Standard that his party cannot trust the person or the European company that the electoral commission wanted to contract for the production of election materials, which include the paper ballot it intends to introduce to replace the marble.
Dodou Jah said the IEC’s position that the printing of the ballot papers will be in Europe and that party representatives will be at the airport to receive them is not sufficient to earn his trust. “I don’t trust that company. Also, the time frame given by the electoral commission for the introduction of the ballot paper is short. You cannot introduce the ballot paper when people don’t understand how it is used,” Jah explained.
He further said that his party is not against the IEC’s intention to introduce the paper ballot system but the 2021 election is too early for it.
“Questions like who is going to be responsible for the printing and where will the ballots be printed, at home or abroad? And will the paper ballots have serial numbers? What happens when voters make errors and need a fresh ballot paper?” Mr Jah asked.
He said these among many questions were put to the IEC but they are yet to provide any convincing explanations, adding that the APRC is interested in answers to these concerns.
Mr Jah further said the Gambian people must first be educated on the paper ballot before anything. He also doubts the IEC will be able to sensitise people on the new system within three months.
“So you can see that there are lots of areas to be covered to ensure it is trustworthy and unless the electoral commission provides tangible answers to these questions, they cannot jump up and bring in the paper ballot. The peace and security of the country is more important to the APRC than IEC and its work. They must not ignore people’s concerns and in fact, it is the National Assembly that will decide on the election bill. The IEC cannot force it and if they want to force it on people, the APRC will go out and sensitise the people. We cannot say yes to paper ballot when we are not prepared for it. The APRC is not against paper ballot but we must accept it with responsibility,” he concluded.
