Dr. Ceesay Warns UDP Plan to Announce Election Results Before IEC Could ‘Burn This Country’

By Fatou Sillah

The Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, has warned that a reported plan by the United Democratic Party to announce its own tally of presidential election results before the Independent Electoral Commission issues its official declaration could heighten political tensions and potentially destabilize The Gambia.

Speaking in an interview with West Coast Radio, Ceesay said the IEC is the only institution constitutionally empowered to conduct elections and officially declare their results. He argued that any attempt by a political party to announce competing results could create confusion, particularly if its figures differ from those ultimately released by the commission.

“The only authority constitutionally mandated to announce election results is the Electoral Commission,” Ceesay said. “They are mandated to conduct elections and announce the results, and the results are final.”

He added: “Where now a political party is saying that they are going to announce the election results before the constitutionally mandated authority announces those results, they can burn this country.”

Ceesay was responding to reports that UDP officials intend to independently compile and announce their assessment of the presidential election results before the IEC makes its official declaration.

Political parties routinely deploy polling agents to voting and counting centers, allowing them to independently track results as they are counted. Ceesay, however, drew a distinction between keeping an internal tally and publicly declaring an election outcome ahead of the institution legally charged with doing so.

He questioned what could happen if a party announced one candidate as the winner only for the IEC to subsequently declare a different result. Such competing claims, he said, could leave supporters believing that their candidate had been denied victory and create conditions for post-election unrest.

Ceesay described the reported plan as “very dangerous” and “reckless” and expressed surprise that the UDP and other political actors had not publicly distanced themselves from it.

He said political parties that dispute official election results have a legal avenue for challenging them through the courts rather than issuing competing declarations.

“And anybody who has an issue with those results, you can seek redress in a competent court of law,” he said.

Ceesay also pointed to disputed elections in other countries where competing claims of victory have contributed to political instability and violence. He questioned what the next step would be for a party that publicly declared its candidate the winner despite a different official outcome.

“If you announce the results, are you going to make sure that now you forcefully swear in your president who you think is the winner?” he said. “And that amounts to treason.”

His remarks underscore concerns about how political parties, electoral authorities, and their supporters will handle the counting and announcement of results in an increasingly competitive presidential race.

Under Gambian electoral procedures, the IEC is responsible for administering elections and declaring official results. Parties dissatisfied with an electoral outcome may challenge it through the judicial process.

Ceesay argued that adherence to those established institutions would be critical to preventing disagreements over the vote count from developing into a broader political crisis.