The Gambia’s Independent Electoral Commission has issued a stern warning against certifying of ineligible people to get registered for elections.
The general registration of voters will begin May 5 and ends June 17, 2011 across the country, Mr Mustapha Carayol announced during a news conference on Wednesday at its complex where it also declared a date for presidential elections.
“The Commission is urging all and sundry to desist from attesting for the underage and aliens as this is a crime in the laws of The Gambia,” said Chairman Carayol.
The amended constitutional provision on voter registration allows either five elders or a chief or alkalo to certify a ‘citizen’ without required documents to obtain voter card.
However, IEC officials confirmed that children below the voting age of 18 had been certified during previous voter registration exercises and it is compelled by law to register anyone with legally accepted documents.
“We all know that it is not possible to have a hundred people born on the same date in our villages,” said one IEC official on Tuesday at the validation of Voter Education Guideline. “But we have seen instances where many people would come with attestations - all born in 1990.”
Some IEC officials confirmed that it has become a saying that ‘elections are not won at the polls, rather, at registration.’
“The Gambian voter ID is exclusively for eligible Gambians,” Chairman Carayol said.
When asked what measures to take to avoid the practice of getting underage and aliens registered, he said IEC follows the dictates of the law.  
However, sources at IEC revealed that chairman Carayol will soon embark on a nation-wide tour to discuss a range of electoral issues with the stakeholders, including village and district heads who are empowered to certify a person.
Election is November
“Upon successful completion of the voter registration exercise, the presidential elections will be held on 24 November 2011,” Chairman Carayol declared, bringing an end to growing anxiety over its silence.
The declaration came at a time when questions are being raised as to whether there would be elections amid the unpopular campaign for kingship, which was preceded by no-election campaign in some quarters.
Eleven political parties are registered with the electoral commission, but it is unclear how many will participate as some parties have been dormant, if not dead. 
The presidential election is to be followed by the National Assembly elections in the first quarter of 2012 and the Local Government elections a year later, in the first quarter of 2013, Carayol added. 
Not going biometric
“It may interest you to note that after the last cycle of elections 2006 -2008 the three conclaves were convened by the Independent Electoral Commission across the country,” Carayol said. “One of the most prominent resolutions that the stakeholders in the electoral process made was the need to change the mode of registration.”
In this regard, Carayol said a new digital voter registration system will be introduced to be supported by CODE Inc, a Canadian company.
He said IEC had planned to introduce biometric voter registration system, but realised that that is unsustainable after they conducted a mock registration of voters. 
“After thorough reflection,” Carayol said, “the Commission has now come to the conclusion that it will conduct a computerized registration of voters without the use of biometric solutions. The digital system is adopted mainly due to the fact that the previously used Polaroid Cameras and films are no longer available in the market. Secondly, it is more economical to adopt the digital system as it is more cost effective and sustainable. This system has in place adequate security features integrated in both the voter card and the data capture processes to ensure an accurate list of voters.”
Targets 800, 000 voters
Mr Sambujang Njie, director of operations, said IEC targets to register an estimated number of over eight hundred thousand eligible voters – a slight increase from previous registration.
He thanked the Government of The Gambia for exclusively financing the general voter registration exercise at a tune of over 65 million dalasi. 
The registration exercise will be conducted over a period of 44 days – weekends and public holidays inclusive.
“All the voters cards issued during General Registration of voters in 2001 and the subsequent supplementary registration of voters of 2004 and 2006 will be invalid as of May 1 2011,” according to Mr Carayol.
He added that a total of 200 registration teams will be deployed across the country and new centre will be opened to accommodate growing settlements and to provide better access to electoral services to voters.
“The list of registration centre and team movement will be announced over the media notably in the radio and newspapers,” he said.
Chairman Carayol added: “I wish to inform all political parties that IEC will invite at least one agent from each party to be with each registration team throughout the registration period, at each party’s expense. All political parties are to send in the names of their registration agents to the IEC before the commencement of the registration exercise for proper identification.”