By Arret Jatta
The National Assembly yesterday, passed the Election Bill 2021 after a third reading, despite controversy surrounding key clauses. The bill has sparked debate, particularly regarding the exclusion of diaspora voting rights and increased registration fees for political parties from D1 million to D2 million.
During yesterday’s deliberations Member for Serekunda Musa Cham moved a motion for the amendments of Clause 14 pertaining to the registration process, and Clause 43, dealing with payment requirements.
However, the motion to reconsider these clauses was rejected after it was put to a vote with 21 voting against while 14 voted in favour with one abstention.
The Minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology Prof. Pierre Gomez, stepping in for the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, moved for the third reading of the bill.
After the deliberations, 23 voted for the Bill to be passed, 14 voted against with no abstentions.
Diaspora voting rights
The bill’s passage comes after a previous attempt to grant Gambians in the diaspora voting rights in their countries of residence was rejected. The majority leader, Billay Tunkara, had moved a motion to remove clauses referring to Gambians living abroad, aligning the bill with the deleted Clause 14. This decision was met with criticism from opposition lawmakers, who argued that it would deny diaspora Gambians their right to vote.
Attorney General Dawda Jallow had cited constitutional concerns, stating that allowing diaspora voting would require creating new constituencies, which necessitates a constitutional amendment. “If you give them authority to register the diaspora now, they will still be unable to implement it because there is no diaspora constituency,” Jallow had argued.
