Thursday, February 11, 2016

APRC National Assembly member confirms nomination forms already in circulation

Alh. Mustapha Carayol
An APRC member of the National Assembly has confirmed that Regional Governors who operate as party apparatchiks rather than as public employees who look after the public interest are busy distributing nomination forms for president.

According to our source, the forms bear the official insignia of the IEC, contrary to what a staff member if the Electoral Commission told someone who was trying to confirm the story.

As we have observed in our Facebook page today, Alhagie. Mustapha Carayol's finger is already on the scale in favor of Yaya Jammeh.

Governor Omar Khan of the CRR (perhaps his colleagues as well) has been reportedly handing nomination forms on behalf of the candidacy of Yaya Jammeh to area Chiefs and Alkalolus in Niamina Dankungku and Upper Saloum constituencies.

Are the actions of these Governors legal?  We believe in providing nomination forms to the ruling party and not to the opposition, the Chairman of the IEC who is occupying the chair illegally, continues to contravene the very law he's sworn to uphold at the detriment of the opposition parties.

By this action, Alhagie Mustapha Carayol is doing his best to further skew a playing field that is already uneven by ushering in the most undemocratic collection of arbitrarily designed amendments to the electoral laws that will effectively disqualify every opposition party.  As an election expert recently put it, the new laws are so arbitrary and stringent that he doubts even if the ruling APRC will be able to meet the requirements.