Gambia election chief says 2 parties contest parliamentary results

The Chairman of the Gambia's Independent Electoral Commission Alieu Momarr Njai said two political parties including the former ruling party have contested the recent National Assembly elections result, local media reported Wednesday evening.

He said they include the former President Yahya Jammeh's APRC and the newest registered party GDC on the claim that the election was not fair. However, he said none has petitioned the results at the Supreme Court.

"They said the outcome of the results is not accepted by them. They made other complains about some polling booths being very dark inside and others having covers that are too transparent to keep identity and voting of people secret. But we wrote back to say we noted their concerns but that does not affect the results of the elections," election chief said.

"Unofficially, of course we understood that the GDC also has some complains. But their main complaint was that the president went on tour during the campaign period," he added.

According to him, both parties have not made any formal complain to his office as far as the election results are concerned. He said they are free to challenge his institution but as far they are concerned, everything was done fairly and it is transparent as certified by international observers. "Our system is such that you can't rig it".

"We received complaints from APRC in writing that in some polling stations their agents did not sign the results sheets which has no bearing on the accuracy of the results," Njai concluded.

Gambians went to polls on April 6 to elect only 53 candidates out of 239 candidates contested for 53 constituencies. Both the Alliance for Patriotic Re-orientation and Construction and Gambia Democratic Congress won five seats leaving 1 seat to an independent candidate. The National Assembly elections were deemed free and fair by international observers. Endit