Gambia’s main opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) has renewed claims of fraud in the 2021 presidential election and questioned the government’s plan to use state resources to provide ID cards for Gambians abroad.
In an exclusive interview with JollofNews, Ya-Kumba Jaiteh, a prominent legal figure and UDP stalwart, said the party took its case to court but lost on a technicality.
“We experienced election fraud back in 2021 and we took the matter to the court,” Jaiteh recounted. “But due to technicality, the matter was flushed out.”
According to Jaiteh, the UDP’s internal research uncovered several instances of electoral malpractice. She cited one example in Dippa Kunda, where people allegedly registered after the official registration period closed on June 18th.
“They show people who registered past that date, after the closure of registration,” she said.
Based on these experiences, Jaiteh expressed scepticism about the government’s plan to issue ID cards to Gambians living abroad, arguing it is unnecessary and costly.
“I didn’t think it is necessary for the government to use state resources to provide ID cards to the Gambians outside the country,” she said. “There could be a system in which Gambians that are outside can get their documents through their embassies rather than using state resources.”
She further challenged the government’s rationale: “Why is the government starting something that the government did have enough resources for?”
Jaiteh emphasised that the UDP’s continued presence and protest at the Independence Electoral Commission (IEC) is driven by the need to safeguard the country’s national documents and ensure a credible vote in 2026.
“We want to protect the integrity of our national documents and the integrity of the 2026 elections,” she told JollofNews. “That’s why we are here as a party to protest at the Independence Electoral Commission complex, and we want to make sure that the election is free and fair.”
