In an open letter obtained by The Standard, Economist and author Musa Bassadi Jawara has told the main opposition UDP that it will not win the December 5 elections by fighting the IEC over procedural rules enshrined in law.
“You are confusing the electorate,” Jawara charged.
He added: “What UDP demands under Section 22(5) — provisional list for scrutiny is Pre-Revising Court. What IEC holds under Section 34(3) and 36(2)(b) master register is Post-Revising Court, the final register for parties in soft copy.
“You cannot publish a half-baked loaf and call it bread. Revising Courts led by magistrates are still sitting. To demand an uncleaned register riddled with double registrations and deceased voters is to ask the IEC to violate integrity.”
Jawara observed that October 15 is the final month for closing arguments for December 5, and so the IEC is following the legal sequence, not denying UDP anything. “Fight for people, voters, not IEC. Argue cost of rice, jobs, blackouts, corruption because issues favour the opposition and the incumbent should be defensive,” Jawara told UDP.
He said the UDP now faces Barrow as an underdog and needs surgical precision, not noise on Kairaba Avenue.
Bringing global parallels to the equation, Jawara said the US midterms show opposition winning on message – cost of living, corruption — not procedural trivia.
Political landscape
Jawara warned that external forces make this election unique, with reports of No-To-Alliance faction fielding its own candidate under Yahya Jammeh and NDP’s Kebba Madi Bojang yet to declare its direction.
“This will not be 2016, will not be 2021 — fractured, fluid, ferociously contested. Every vote must be earned house by house,” he said.
He urged the UDP to consolidate its loyal base, then go after undecided voters in a humble, soul-searching fashion.
When contacted for reaction, the UDP spokesperson Saihou Camara declined to comment.
“Let’s be serious. I’ll not respond to this. I don’t partake in click bait and attention seeking stuff.”
