By Fatou Sillah
The Executive Director of the Center for Research and Policy Development (CRPD), Sait Matty Jaw, has attributed ongoing challenges and tensions in The Gambia’s voter registration process to existing electoral laws, noting that certain provisions continue to fuel mistrust and disputes among political parties.
In an interview with Kerr Fatou, Jaw commented on the recent supplementary voter registration exercise, which has been marked by accusations and counter-accusations among political actors, including claims of minors and non-Gambians being registered.
According to Jaw, such tensions are not new, as political parties have historically raised concerns during electoral processes. He emphasized that structural issues within the electoral system—particularly the continued use of attestation—remain a significant source of mistrust.
“What is also creating this whole issue of mistrust is because of the way that our electoral system is still, you use the attestation, you use all those different processes, and we have argued as civil society for a very long time that this can create problems,” he stated.
Jaw further noted that civil society organizations have consistently advocated for reforms to address these weaknesses, especially the removal of attestation from the voter registration process. However, he lamented that many of these concerns remain unresolved despite ongoing discussions.
“We all know that thing needs to be removed, but it is still in the laws,” he added.
Despite the challenges, Jaw acknowledged a positive aspect in the heightened scrutiny among political parties, suggesting that mutual accountability could help safeguard the integrity of the electoral process.
“One of the things I like about all these different issues is that political parties are trying to hold each other accountable, and that is also going to save us,” he said.
He concluded by calling for comprehensive electoral reforms to minimize recurring disputes and enhance public confidence in the system. While noting that the introduction of a new electoral act was intended to address such issues, he expressed concern that key contentious provisions, including attestation, were ultimately retained.
“We have to sanitize the laws, we have to sanitize the system, and that was the essence of having this new electoral act, but unfortunately we went through so many validation, we argued about the attestation, but what will political parties say? Hey, if you don’t do it, other people will not be able to register,” he explained.
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