By Omar Bah
The ruling National People’s Party-led Alliance yesterday issued a strong warning against what it describes as attempts to pre-emptively undermine the Independent Electoral Commission and threaten parallel results, saying such actions amount to an assault on The Gambia’s constitutional order.
In a statement issued by National Coordinator Mai Ahmad Fatty, the alliance said the country is “at a juncture where the tenor of political contestation must be elevated above the fray of partisan ambition.”
“To pre-emptively impugn the integrity of the Independent Electoral Commission and to threaten the unilateral announcement of parallel results is not only a tactical overreach, but also a fundamental assault on the civic pact that binds us as a people,” the statement said.
The alliance said democracy rests on institutional trust and the rule of law, and that subverting the statutory mandate of the IEC would “sow the seeds of anarchy.”
“To subvert the statutory mandate of the IEC is to sow the seeds of anarchy; it sends a pernicious signal that our Republic’s institutions are bargaining chips to be discarded at the political altar. This, we must affirm with absolute clarity, is an untenable path that no patriotic Gambian should countenance,” Fatty stated.
He said leadership must guide the polity toward order, not chaos, and accused those threatening to reject official results before voting of desperation.
“The implied unilateral repudiation of an official result at this stage, before a single ballot is cast, is a transparent manifestation of desperation and a stark admission of electoral infirmity. It is the refuge of those who have already surrendered their hopes to the verdict of the people,” the statement said.
The NPP-led Alliance warned that the state has the will and legal instruments to enforce electoral laws. “We shall not tolerate any individual or group holding the rule of law to ransom, nor will we entertain actions that imperil our national tranquillity,” it said.
It stressed that the courts remain the legitimate avenue for electoral disputes and called on all actors to uphold peace and democratic forbearance.
“No one has the moral authority or the political legitimacy to lay claim to the highest office of the Republic, while simultaneously plotting against its institutions and undermining their statutory mandates,” Fatty said.
The alliance concluded: “The Gambia is larger than any single ambition, and our collective destiny demands that we navigate this season with wisdom and restraint. Let us affirm our unwavering commitment to a process that is lawful, transparent, and reflective of the genuine will of the Gambian people.”
The NPP’s Alliance came after main opposition UDP’s Lamin Manneh said the party will announce its own elections results of the IEC delays its own announcement. An IEC official has said though parties may announce their own tallies from different places, the legitimate authority to announce the final results and declaration of a winner is ‘the IEC’.