IEC CLARIFIES OMISSIONS IN PROVISIONAL VOTER LIST

Following complaints by voters protesting the omission of their names in the provisional voter list currently on display at public places in Bakau, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has said it has discovered that some 3713 people across the country whose names were in the database, were not printed in the provisional voter list recently published by the commission, but has been reentered in the list.

IEC chairman Joseph Colley clarified that the omission was discovered on Monday and it was swiftly rectified with the new list pasted in Bakau and other parts of the country where complaints were made.

Also clarifying the issue, IEC chief electoral officer Samboujang Njie explained that the omission only affected those registered on the first day of registration. “Those  registered on that specific day, were not included in the provisional list but it was actually corrected and the updated list was given to the complaining parties,” Njie said, adding that there is no cause for alarm since the electoral law provided for mechanisms to address issues around appeals, corrections and objections.

‘In fact as the name indicates, the provisional list is not final hence objections, appeals and corrections can be made until July 20th after which the revising courts will start. So the law has taken care of all these issues,” he added. 

The clarifications came after one of the complainants UDP-Bakau organising secretary and deputy campaign manager Wally Sanyang alleged that over 70 names were found missing across several registration centres in Bakau. He disclosed that in Cape Point alone 43 names were found missing,8 at the Bakau Community Centre, 18 in Farokono, 4 in Bakau Wasulung and 15 in Bakau Sanchaba while Newtown and Fajara are yet to be confirmed. 

Wally confirmed that IEC officials were in Bakau to paste a new voter list but claimed that even after that correction, some names still remain missing.

Source: The Standard