By Nelson Manneh
As Gambians prepare for the December 4th 2021 polls, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) on Wednesday 27th October 2021 released the nomination schedule for the presidential election.
The IEC had earlier informed aspiring candidates to collect nomination papers at the Election House free of and said that nominations will be conducted from the 30th October to 5th November 2021, from 8 am to 4 pm daily at the Election House.
The nomination schedule is as follows:
Joseph H. Joof, Marie Sock-Jobateh, Alhaji Mamadi Kurang and Mathew Gomez, all independent candidates are scheduled to submit their nomination forms on Saturday 30th October 2021.
Independent candidates Ebrima Tabora Manneh, Momodou Bah (1), Bankole Ahadzie and Alliance for National Reconstruction and Development (ANRD) will submit their nomination forms on Sunday, 31st October 2021.
Gambia For All (GFA), United Democratic Party (UDP), Gambia Moral Congress (GMC) and All People’s Party (APP) will submit their nomination forms on Monday 1st November 2021.
Mamadi K.S. Camara, independent candidate; Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC); Citizens’ Alliance (CA); and Momodou Bah (2), independent candidate will submit their nomination forms on Tuesday 2nd November 2021.
Gambia Alliance for National Unity (GANU), People’s Democratic Organization for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS), Gambia Action Party (GAP), and Tamsir M. Jasseh, independent candidate, will submit their nomination forms on Wednesday 3rd November 2021.
Essa Mbye Faal, independent candidate; National People’s Party; Matarr Niang, independent candidate, will submit their nomination forms on Thursday 4th November 2021.
Papa Faal, independent candidate; National Unity Party (NUP); and Democratic Party (DP) will submit their nomination forms on Friday 5th November 2021.
As per the requirement of Section 43 of the 1997 Constitution of the Republic of The Gambia, IEC is mandated to conduct general voter registration and conduct all public elections.
It is against this background that the IEC commenced the 2021 Presidential election cycle by conducting general voter registration, where all eligible citizens were registered.
The commission commenced the 2021 general registration of voters from 29th May to 11th of July 2021 and was able to register close to one million people (962,157).
The IEC also released the requirements for the nomination of a president. These requirements were given to all aspiring candidates who showed their interest to contest for the presidential election.
