APRC election petitions Withdrawn

The election petitions filed by the former ruling APRC party have been withdrawn from the Supreme Court on Wednesday, following the court’s approval of the withdrawal application.

The application to withdraw the election petition was earlier filed by the applicants’ counsel, lawyer Edward Gomez, during the last court sitting.

Former president, Yahya Jammeh, the APRC party and Yankuba Colley and about 5,000 voters, filed petition to the country’s constitutional court for the court to declare the December 1, 2016 presidential election null and void.

The petition urged the Supreme Court to declare the former president the duly elected president of The Gambia, instead of the incumbent, President Adama Barrow, claiming that Yahya Jammeh had more votes than Adama Barrow in the December 1, 2016 election.

The petition disclosed that the December 1, 2016 election was invalid due to its alleged non-compliance with the Election Act.

The petition stated that the IEC, the statutory body responsible for the proper conduct of elections in The Gambia, failed to properly collate the results of the election.

It stated that on the 2 December, 2016, the IEC declared the result and then on December 5, 2016, it declared a different result having noticed some errors.

The petition claimed that no APRC representative was present when the said revision was made, neither was it signed by the APRC representative.

It further stated that on the polling day, about 25,000 APRC supporters who were on the queues to cast their votes for Yahya Jammeh were intimidated by the IEC presiding officers and were not allowed to cast their votes and sent home.

During last sitting of the court, the legal counsel, Edward Gomez, informed the court he was instructed by his clients (petitioners) to withdraw the suits from the court.

He disclosed that he had filed a notice of withdrawal, adding that the reasons being for the best interest of the country and the Gambian people to ensuring that there is a peace and harmony among all and sundry.

The Chief Justice, Hassan B.Jallow, at that junction informed lawyer Gomez to apply formally, stating the reasons for the withdrawal of the petition and be signed by the petitioners.

During Wednesday’s sitting, the court observed that lawyer Edward Gomez had duly followed the procedure and the court therefore granted the application to withdraw the petitions.