Africa-Press – Gambia. During a press conference on Wednesday, Hon. Halifa Sallah, leader of the People’s Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS), emphasized that the 1997 Gambian Constitution guarantees the right of every Gambian aged 18 and above to register as a voter and to cast their vote.
“We talk about diaspora voting, diaspora voting, diaspora voting. But if you look at the 1997 constitution, it says that every Gambian above 18 years has a right to be registered as a voter and to vote. That is established by the Constitution. Something is said to be registered under a constituency which, if it becomes problematic, you could have amended twenty-something years ago. But it did not pose any difficulty, because the Elections Act made clear that Gambians abroad should be registered under Section 11 of the Election Act, and under Section 141, that they should vote in presidential elections,” Hon. Sallah explained.
He added that since every Gambian living abroad originally comes from a specific constituency within the country, registering them should not be difficult.
“You originated somewhere. You originated from a constituency. What is the difficulty in registering that person under that constituency?” he said. “What difficulty is there? If the will is there, that is why it is just utter neglect. That is the reason why Gambians in the diaspora could not vote,” he stated.
Hon. Sallah made these comments during the Wednesday press briefing.
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