(JollofNews) – The Gambia’s electoral commission (IEC) will today make a decision on the eligibility of the various candidates seeking to contest next month’s presidential election.
Both candidates including President Yahya Jammeh and his challengers, Adama Barrow of the opposition coalition and Mamma Kandeh of the Gambia Democratic Congress, have this week submitted for scrutiny a declaration of their assets and showed proof to the electoral commission that they have each got the backing of 5000 registered voters from various regions of the country. The candidates also paid a deposit of D1 million and showed proof of their income tax clearance.
And As part of the new electoral law, all the documents submitted to the commission will be thoroughly scrutinised by the public and election officials before a final decision is made whether to allow each of the candidates to contest the election.
A candidate’s nomination may be blocked by the commission if founds that he was deceptive with the information provided in the nomination forms or where the commission found amongst other things that he is not of sound mind, has not met the requirements contained in the electoral laws including age and educational qualifications.
The Gambia with a population of less than two million, will hold presidential election on 1st December with 886, 578 Gambians expected to vote, according official figures from the electoral commission.
The country operates a simple majority vote system and a candidate who has a simple majority of votes would be declared winner.
Meanwhile, the electoral commission is running a series of voter education programmes aimed at encouraging high voter turnout, transparency and peaceful election.
