and 53 constituency observers to observe the nomination process, pre-campaign and campaign environment in all regions and constituencies ahead of April 9th 2022 National Assembly elections.
The EWC is a partnership of the Peace Ambassadors-The Gambia (PAG), Activista and National Youth Parliament to observe electoral processes in The Gambia.
At a media briefing held at PAG office on Monday, Ndegen Jobe, deputy speaker for the National Youth Parliament, disclosed that 2022 observation efforts would build on EWC’s observation of the last presidential election including voter registration process, the display of provisional list of voters, candidate nomination and campaign period.
She revealed that all 14 nomination observers will observe and send nomination checklist reports and lists of accepted and rejected nominees at the end of each observation day.
The constituency observers, she added, would also observe and send campaign observation checklist reports on three designated days as well as send in critical incidents reports throughout the process, anytime they occur.
Deputy speaker Jobe said that in addition to the observers, they also trained and deployed 5 data clerks who would be stationed at the EWC National Information Center in Kanifing to collect checklist reports from constituency observers on the three designated reporting days as well as critical incidents from all observers all through the campaign process.
According to her, they will immediately share with appropriate authorities any verified critical incident reports or any other relevant information so that actions are immediately taken to address issue(s).
EWC observers will observe and report on campaign processes such as political rallies, campaign marches and demonstrations, debates or the use of the media, flyers, posters, billboards or community outreach events. They will also watch out for campaign violence within their assigned areas such as propagation of hate speeches and divisive messages, intimidation and harassment targeted at electoral actors and groups as well as use of campaign resources by candidates and political parties.
Observers will further report on civic and voters’ education activities, Covid-19 related issues and awareness as well as the IEC preparatory activities for Election Day at the regional and constituencies levels.
