The opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) has called on The Gambia’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to provide a full reconciliation of figures relating to the recently concluded 2026 Supplementary Voter Registration exercise.
Speaking at a press briefing on Monday, UDP Secretary General and party leader, H.E. Ousainou Darboe, said the party’s request was aimed at promoting transparency and strengthening public confidence in the country’s electoral process.
Mr Darboe said the UDP had raised concerns with the IEC before the commencement of the supplementary registration exercise in April, particularly regarding safeguards against multiple registrations. He said the party had offered technical support to help minimise or eliminate multiple registrations, but was informed that the proposed system could not be implemented within the available timeframe.
The UDP subsequently deployed party agents across the country to monitor the registration process and collect registration-related information. According to Mr Darboe, the party’s information technology team later analysed data collected by the UDP alongside datasets made available by the IEC.
The UDP leader said the IEC had publicly announced that 212,095 Gambians registered during the supplementary voter registration exercise.
However, he said the initial dataset provided by the IEC to political parties showed 179,445 registered voters, creating a difference of 32,650 voters.
According to Mr Darboe, following protests, the IEC acknowledged that voters registered on 8 April 2026 had been omitted from the initial publication. An additional 3,713 voters were subsequently added, bringing the cumulative figure in the updated dataset to 183,163 voters.
The UDP said this still left a discrepancy of 28,932 voters.
Mr Darboe said the IEC had indicated that 14,334 multiple registrations should be deducted from the difference. Even after that deduction, he said, an unexplained difference of 14,598 voters remained.
“The UDP is not alleging fraud or wrongdoing,” Mr Darboe told journalists. “We are simply asking for a full reconciliation of the figures so that all political parties and the Gambian people can have confidence that the electoral register accurately reflects the outcome of the registration exercise.”
The UDP said it formally wrote to the IEC on 16 July, requesting detailed information, including the total number of registrations before deletions, the number of duplicate registrations removed, the final register after deletions, and the complete datasets before and after the adjudication process.
The party also requested an extension of the scrutiny period to allow political parties and members of the public sufficient time to examine the complete voter register once it is made available.
Mr Darboe said the UDP met with the IEC earlier on Monday and that the party’s technical team would brief the media on the outcome of that engagement.
The UDP leader stressed that the party remained committed to peaceful democratic participation and constructive engagement with the electoral commission and other stakeholders.
“This is not about politics. It is about protecting the confidence of every Gambian voter in our democratic process,” he said, adding that the party’s objective was “not confrontation” but “confidence-building.”
