Reports revealed by election observers following the just concluded Local Government elections have indicated low voter turn-out particularly among young people compared to women and the elderly.

The reports by a total number of 266 accredited domestic and international observers, including the embassy of the United States of America, the British High Commission, National Youth Parliament, Africa in Democracy and Good Governance, National Youth Council, Coalition of Civil Society Organisations, among others, highlighted issues of concern in their observation, and drew up recommendations for the conduct of free fair and transparent elections.

The various reports however described the elections as free and fair, thus reflecting the will of the Gambian people.

Presenting its report following observation of the local government elections at a press briefing last Sunday, the British High Commission noted with concern the delay in one of the polling stations in the Greater Banjul Area where a voter’s name could not be seen on the register and the counterfoils were not available, but the voter was allowed to cast his vote.

According to the British High Commission report, “the whole process went on successfully and everything was ok. So on our part we would say that the election procedures were followed to the letter.”

The report therefore suggested to the Independent Electoral Commission that measures be taken to ensure that there is a master list during election time to avoid any defects in future in the electoral registers and the electoral process as a whole.

The report by the embassy of the United States of America also highlighted a low voter turn-out in all the polling stations visited.

“The procedures were followed quite well even though there were some minor difficulties. The process went fairly and was free as all the procedures were followed as directed by the IEC,” the US Embassy report indicated.

In a five-page report presented to the Independent Electoral Commission, the National Youth Parliament also described the elections as free and fair and transparent although the issue of low voter turn-out, especially among young people featured in the report as well.

However after consultation and brainstorming on their experience in the field during the elections, the National Youth Parliament drew up some recommendations for future elections. These included, among others, the strengthening of voter education programmes, improvement of logistical arrangement, and provision of electoral list in each polling station prior to elections.