By Fatou Sillah
The Executive Director of Gambia Participates, Marr Nyang, has expressed grave concerns over the ongoing voter registration exercise, describing the reported irregularities as the most severe he has encountered in his experience, including during the administration of former President Yahya Jammeh.
Speaking in an interview with Kerr Fatou on Monday, Nyang said he had observed what he described as widespread irregular and potentially fraudulent practices in the current registration process.
“I have never, ever in my entire life observed or witnessed fraudulent activities orchestrated by some people during this voter registration. There are just so many irregularities that I have never seen before, not even during the Jammeh period in this voter registration,” he stated.
He further raised concerns about what he described as voter suppression linked to state administrative processes, particularly affecting young eligible voters who are unable to register due to missing identification documents, such as national ID cards and birth certificates, which in some cases cannot be attested.
“There are so many young voters that are eligible to vote; they don’t have an ID card or birth certificate, and they cannot be attested because the stamp of their Alkalo has been taken. So they have been disenfranchised, and their political rights as guaranteed by the constitution are also violated,” he said.
Nyang also highlighted inconsistencies in the handling of birth certificates, noting a lack of clarity in the electoral framework regarding the acceptance of different versions.
“We have seen birth certificates also being used. The electoral act is not clear, and the government has not informed the public which version should be accepted between the new and old birth certificates,” he noted.
He criticized the continued reliance on attestation in the registration process, arguing that such practices are outdated in modern electoral systems.
“In this day and age, we should not be going for attestation,” he said.
According to Nyang, the credibility of the voter register is central to the legitimacy of any election. “If the voter roll is clean and credible, you will have a clean and credible election. If it is not, your election will not be credible.”
He added that significant flaws in the voter register could ultimately undermine the integrity of election results.
“If, for example, you have a voter roll of 1,000,000 and about 600,000 of those individuals are either ineligible, not Gambian, underage, or mobilized improperly by political actors, then their votes are not the will of Gambians or eligible voters,” he explained.
Nyang concluded by emphasizing the role of civil society in safeguarding electoral integrity. “Our role is to observe, document, and report, but that doesn’t take away the responsibility to protect the integrity of the election,” he said.
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