By Olimatou Coker
The Election Watch Committee (EWC) has said that IEC rejected 5 candidates during the nomination period.
Officials made these remarks during a press conference on the nomination process held at the PAG office in Kanifing.
EWC is a partnership of the Peace Ambassadors- The Gambia (PAG), Activista, and the National Youth Parliament to observe electoral processes in The Gambia. The 2022 observation effort will build on the EWC’s observation of the 2021 presidential election including the voter registration process, the display of a provisional list of voters, the candidates’ nomination and campaign period, and the 2021 presidential Election Day. Ahead of the April 9th parliamentary elections, the EWC has observed the candidate nomination process and is now observing the campaign period.
Speaking at the press conference, Ndegen Jobe, program manager NYP, said the IEC conducted the candidate nomination process from Saturday, March 5th through Sunday, March 13th in each of its seven regional offices. Political parties were assigned specific days on which their candidates were to submit their nomination packages. On Tuesday, March 15th, the IEC released a list of 251 candidates that have been declared to contest the April 9th parliamentary polls. The IEC announced that they rejected five candidates.
“Based on the IEC’s list of candidates, the highest number of candidates are in lower Saloum in Janjanbureh and Old Yundum in Brikama with eight candidates running in each contest. In two constituencies- Bakau in Kanifing and Tumana in Basse only two candidates are contesting. The UDP has fielded the largest number of candidates at 46 followed by the NPP at 40 candidates. As well, 85 independent candidates are running in these elections”.
