By Yusef Taylor, @FlexDan_YT
The Gambia’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has issued 720,394 voters cards by the end of Week 4, edging closer to their 1 million Registered Voters target. The Voters Registration Exercise started on 29th May 2021 and is expected to end in approximately two weeks on 11th July 2021.
To meet their target the IEC must issue almost 280,000 voters’ cards between 26th June to 11th July 2021. A look at the weekly statistics shows that the number of registered voters is declining every week with this week featuring the sharpest decline.
The second week featured 6,900 fewer registered voters compared to the first week. Similarly, the third week featured 3,900 fewer registered voters compared to the second week. However, the fourth week features 17,000 fewer registered voters compared to the third week, which is quite staggering. This demonstrates that the number of registered voters is in sharp decline.
The chart below shows the weekly decline in the number of registered voters.
The statistics show that women continue to outnumber men at the registration centres. By the end of week four, 411,319 voters’ cards were issued to women while only 309,075 voters’ cards were issued to male applicants. This means there are over 100,000 female registered voters than their male counterparts. Ultimately, it can be seen that more than 57% of the total registered voters are female compared to less than 43% of male registered voters.
The first chart below depicts the number of female and male registered voters by administrative area and the second chart depicts the number of registered voters (female and male combined) by administrative area.
The charts show that the number of female voters continues to tower over male voters in Brikama. Brikama has the largest number of registered voters (257,000) so far. This is over 100,000 voters than the second-highest administrative area, Kanifing (151,000).
On the other end of the scale is Banjul with less than 17,000 Registered voters and followed by Mansakonko with less than 39,000 registered voters.