The clause highlighted that “as from the coming into force of this Act, the existing register of voters shall cease to be valid and all eligible persons shall apply to be registered in accordance with the provisions of this Act.”
Thus, Members argued that this clause should be removed as they are not aware of the status of the IEC.
According to the report of the Joint Committee on Local Government and Human Rights, Clause 3 outlined the scope of the bill, and the elections to which it applies. It equally sought to invalidate the existing register of voters, and subject electorates to new registration in accordance with the provisions of this bill.
The report further recommended that after various deliberation and considerations, Clause 3 to be expunged from the bill.
The minister for Justice, Dawda Jallow, asserted that this bill came in before the 2021 election. It was expected that when it was passed, we will have to have a new voter register, completely replacing the old voters register, before the presidential election.
“Because this bill was introduced around 2019 or early 2020, we now have to look at the effect of it considering whether IEC is in a position of readiness.
“If we pass it with this, it will invalidate the current voter register. Whether IEC will be in a position from now to come up with a brand new voter register, that's something we don't know because it requires resources, logistics and other things. So I think this issue of general registration of replacing the existing database, we can leave that to the Electoral Commission to determine.”
He advised members to maintain these particular provisions.
“We also need to bear in mind. If we leave this clause, immediately you pass this law, the voter register is deleted. If there is any by-election tomorrow, IEC cannot conduct it because automatically, it has an automatic effect. Once you pass it, it deletes. There is no voter register until a new one comes into place.”
Hon. Suwaibou Touray, the Member for Wulli East, informed that when they had a consultation with IEC, they also agreed that Clause 3 should be removed.
“We argued with IEC that the clause should be removed because it is going to affect them. This was put there because they thought that if it was passed at that time (2019) it was necessary to do the general registration but it should be continuous registration now,” he added.
At least 26 members voted for the expunging, while 5 voted against and two abstained.
