By Tabora Bojang
Unite movement founder Talib Bensouda has expressed his confidence in contesting the presidential election in December even if his movement fails to get registered as a party.
He described registration of a party with IEC as only a “formality” and cannot prevent a citizen from seeking the presidency.
He said both Adama Barrow and Bassirou Diomaye Faye won their first terms as independents as Pastef was proscribed while Barrow had resigned from the UDP.
“So having a party or not does not prevent anybody from partaking in the elections. Come December 5th [presidential election], UMC’s ballot boxes will be out there across all polls and we will contest. After the presidential election, we will also contest the parliamentary elections and we will have candidates vying in all constituencies and after that we will also contest in every ward for the councillor election and we will vie for all mayoral and chairman positions,” Bensouda said at the handing over of new vehicles to his movement’s regional chairpersons.
He added: “UMC is the party of the future and we will govern this country. I have the belief and confidence based on what I have seen and based on what you have shown me. There is truth in our mission, there is respect, there is honour and there is dignity and hard work. So do not fall for the doubters who say UMC has no future… [W]hoever is belittling us is doing so at his or her own expense. I advise all members to avoid insults and accusations and remain patient and continue to work hard.”
IEC registration
Addressing the on-going registration debate of the party following IECs announcement that it fails to meet certain requirements for formal registration, Bensouda said contrary to many suggestions, the commission only pointed out two issues in the submission.
He said the party filed 30,000 forms and while about 5,000 to 7,000 were found to be intact, others were returned for necessary corrections and refilling adding that teams are already on the ground to carry out those works.
Another issue he cited was that the commission sought further clarity on the party name as thousands of forms bears UMC instead of UNITE.
