By Dbanjulist
After trashing the ruling APRC in the Lower Saloum by-elction, the Minority Leader of the National Assembly has described this as “a wakeup call for the 2016 Presidential Elections.” Barely a month after the recently passed 2015 Electoral Amendment Bill amidst controversy, the opposition NRP’s candidate Modou Bamba Gaye, claimed a landslide victory by a margin of 1,146 votes over the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) candidate Kebba Touray.
With Kaur as its district capital, Lower Saloum constitutes 64 villages and 7,712 registered voters. It has been confirmed that 57% of registered voters took to the polls on the 6th of August. This highlights that voter apathy could still improve in Lower Saloum.
Voter turnout in Lower Saloum |
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Description | Votes | Percentages |
Total Registered Voters | 7712 | 100.0% |
Actual voters | 4382 | 56.8% |
Abstained voters | 3330 | 43.2% |
In an environment where opposition parties have resorted to election boycott since 2011 presidential elections, the NRP, on the 3rd August announced it will contest the Lower Saloum seat. NRP’s Campaign Leader Hon. Samba Jallow, who is currently the Minority Leader of the National Assembly, revealed that his Party will agree to pay a deposit of D50, 000 to Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), after its initial D5, 000 deposit did not meet the requirements under the recently passed Elections Amendment law.
Hon. Samba Jallow sounded upbeat about their participation in the election, declaring that: “Our candidate currently has the upper hand.” On the polling day, the results confirmed Hon, Samba bah’s claim that NRP indeed had the “upper hand” in the constituency. Their candidate Mr. Gaye, claimed a total of 2,764 votes while Mr. Touray of the APRC, who managed to score a total of 1,618 votes to the dismay of Jammeh’s APRC.
APRC’s national Mobiliser in a tone of defeat, conceded victory, saying: “In every competition, there must be a winner and a looser.” However he reiterated that his party “is very much prepared for all upcoming elections”. It was alleged that Jammeh had plans to host a victory celebration in Banjul, which had to be called-off after their hopes of victory was given a blow by the NRP. Meanwhile, the manner in which NRP triumphed over the APRC is begging questions in many quarters about the readiness of Gambian’s to “vote out” Jammeh’s APRC out of office in 2016.
Others are still cautious about such prospects as the opposition victory in the constituency could be a case of an unpopular APRC candidate running against a popular NRP candidate. One analyst said, “After some sombre reflection, it is expected that future elections will be more challenging and the APRC will be paying closer attention to ensure that future results swing in their favour.” Gauging responses from other opposition parties, senior United Democratic Party (UDP) officials were very optimistic before the elections, of an NRP victory over the APRC.
“It is indeed the decision of the people that matters. It is up to Gambians to take this as an example of how to effect change,” a senior UDP official said after the results were announced. Another official of the People’s Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS) said this is “a warning sign to the ruling party that it does not have monopoly over political power. Gambians should learn from this and understand that with their votes, they can change a government.”
Nonetheless, some Gambian political analysts are of the view that the opposition should have abstained entirely from participation. Others however argue that they should participate in order to “claw back some seats from the APRC National Assembly responsible for passing countless bad laws.”
The results of this by-election have brought the number of seats out of the APRC hands to 6, out of an assembly consisting of 48 seats.