IEC URGED TO PUBLISH FULL LIST OF VOTERS

Brikama Area Council chairman Yankuba Darboe has weighed into the issue of missing names in the provisional list of voters registered in the just concluded supplementary voter registration.

Following complaints by people mainly from Bakau protesting that their names are missing on the list, the IEC admitted some omissions on the list affecting those registered on the first day of the exercise, but said the missing names have been reentered and put back on display at public places as required by law. Election House also said the list is provisional and would remain on display until July 21 allowing the public to view and raise objections or corrections where they may occur for the Commission to take care of before the revising courts start sitting.  “There is absolutely no cause for alarm as this process is normal, and in accordance with the law,” CEO Sambujang Njie told The Standard on Wednesday.

However, in a statement published on his Facebook yesterday, BAC chairman Yankuba Darboe of the opposition UDP, urged the IEC to “provide Gambians with credible registered list of all the voters registered with them during the 2026 supplementary voter registration process and not an incomplete registered list of the same.”

He argued that anything short of a complete voter register would raise concerns about the integrity of the electoral process.

Darboe warned that an incomplete register could create room for manipulation, claiming it could allow ineligible voters to participate in the presidential election.

He cautioned against a situation where voters’ cards would become the main proof of eligibility because of possible gaps in the IEC database.

“Such a scenario will enable the IEC to declare that anyone who produces a genuine voters card on the election should be allowed to vote,” he warned.

The Brikama Area Council chairman further called on the IEC to publish information on duplicated voter registrations and provide evidence that such names have been removed from the database.

“We must not accept such a fraud and insist that the IEC be transparent and provide its complete and final list of all registered voters in its system,” he stated.

Darboe also warned against what he described as a “race to the bottom” in the upcoming election, saying Gambians deserve free, fair and credible elections.

Another UDP official, Hagi Suwaneh, the youth president, alleged that the omissions were not limited to those registered on the first day as claimed by the IEC. He also disputed the total figure of 3172 affected by the omissions, claiming his records show a lot more than that. He called on the IEC to ensure that a complete and accurate list is published.