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Freedom Newspaper Opinion Poll Says Ousainou Darboe Is The Winner Of The Friday Polls- Pulling 45 Percent of the Votes!
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Freedom Newspaper Opinion Poll Says Ousainou Darboe Is The Winner Of The Friday Polls- Pulling 45 Percent of the Votes!
Freedom Newspaper Opinion Poll Says Ousainou Darboe Is The Winner Of The Friday Polls- Pulling 45 Percent of the Votes!
Incumbent Jammeh Pulls 40 Percent With A Significant Drop Of 12 Percent Of His 52 Percent Last Election Victory!!!
NADD'S Halifa Sallah Pulls 15 Percent...
An
opinion poll survey conducted by the Freedom Newspaper seems to have
favoured Presidential flag bearer Ousainou Darboe against his running
mates in Friday's polls. Darboe has been rated higher than Jammeh and
Sallah by young and senior voters in the West African country. If the
said opinion poll is to go by Ousainou Darboe is likely to be the next
President of the Gambia. Darboe's victory can only be hijacked by the
new Casamance guest voters currently hosted in the country by the
government. While the Independent Electoral Commission cannot at this
hour tell our surveyors the exact number of voters lined up to vote
come Friday, our opinion poll favored Ousainou Darboe. Darboe has been
named as the unofficial winner of the Friday elections. Opinion polls
are not popular in Africa, but we tried to conduct our own survey to
sound voters favorite candidates. Below is the breakdown of our opinion
poll:
President Yahya Jammeh:40percent
Ousainou Numukunda Darboe:45 percent
Halifa Sallah of NADD :15percent
  
Darboe is the winner 45% Jammeh loser40% Sallah 15%
A
number of youths and the elderly want to see Jammeh go. Most of the
voters pledging their support for Ousainou Darboe are within the youth
age bracket, who formed the biggest percentage of the voter
population in the Gambia. About forty-five percent of the population
say they were convinced that Darboe was capable of restoring economic
and political freedoms in the West African country. For Jammeh, 40
percent supported him. A greater number of the voters say they had
enough of Jammeh's rule and therefore want to see him go. For example,
they cited the growing economic crisis characterized by political
insecurity in the country. Many civil servants who spoke to the Freedom
Newspaper during the random sampling of the opinion poll believed that
under Jammeh's rule they are not assured of job security and better
incentives. Jammeh's last performance in the past elections will go
down this time around with lesser percentage of 4o. Many civil servants
and members of the security forces would vote against him in secret.
There will be a close race between Darboe and Jammeh. Many believed
that the government brought in the Casamance backup guest voters in the
event of an opposition victory.
The UDP party manifesto
impresses many voters. Darboe will perform well this time in the
kombos, CRD, Baddibus, LRD, and URD. It would be very difficult for him
to make much impact in the Western Division and the Greater Banjul Area
in view of the Casamance voters on stand by to vote. Even though the
APRC bigwigs such as Dr.Manneh, Yankuba Touray, Ganji Touray and
Momodou Picka Jallow had pumped a lot money in the upcountry, it is
going to be difficult for the regime to make any serious impact in the
said localities. Many communities interviewed said they are upset with
the Jammeh regime. They cited the unpaid farmers nuts for the past four
years, lack of decent drinking water, farming implements, seed nuts and
access to loan. These communities want change and had manifested their
determination when interviewed by our opinion poll surveyors.
Many
people interviewed believed that the Friday elections were Darboe's and
not Jammeh. Many youths following Darboe said under President Jammeh
rule's hopelessness and fear continues to grip the population. They
believed that unless political change took place there cannot be any
meaningful development.
For Halifa Sallah, he is new in the
Presidential race. Notwithstanding, Sallah is bound to make surprises
come election day. Our survey even indicated that the APRC had bought
many votes in Serre-Kunda, Sallah's main stronghold in a bid to defeat
him in the area. That is why when NADD supporter Buba came with the
story that he was sent by Halifa to collect voters cards never came as
a surprise to many knowing the regime's plans rig the polls in
Serre-Kunda. Sallah support base is mainly in the Kombos and Wulli. He
is very popular within the educated elites and a fraction of the youth
population. Combining the votes of the UDP led alliance and NADD Jammeh
is bound to suffer from heart attack. The opinion polls are not in his
favour at all. NADD/UDP votes added together we are talking about 7o
percent votes for the opposition. Jammeh's last 52 percent votes had
dropped significantly with 12 percent. By publishing this opinion
survey Jammeh might resorts to subverting or hijacking the actual
elections results by asking the IEC chairman to announce him as the
winner. Going by these polls, the winner is Ousainou Numukunda Darboe
and not Jammeh.
There is a big problem in Jammeh's own ruling
APRC party. For example, the loyalists of the sacked and disgraced KMC
Mayor are likely to rebel against Jammeh come polling day. These Lie
supporters had renounced their support for Jammeh. They openly
criticized Jammeh and the mistreatment he exposed to their political
star Lie Conteh. To add insult to injury, Lie Conteh is still reporting
on bail at the Kairaba Station. He was seen at the Kairaba station on
Wednesday. The regime had not set him free yet. He is still being
investigated alongside with Ramzia Diab and others. To some extent,
Lie's case would have an adverse effect on Jammeh's performance in KMC. Many
voters there would vote for the UDP led alliance.
Banjulians are also upset
about the jailing and prosecution of their mayor Pa Sallah Jeng. Banjul
is Darboe's stronghold. Jammeh would be defeated in Banjul and KMC if
the polls are free and fair. Jammeh's best bait is the guest voters
whom he intends to use to hijack the electoral process in the Greater
Banjul Area and Western Division. Many of these guest voters are
currently hosted in public schools. Gambians should not be surprised if
the IEC resorts to announcing faked numbers election day. The Chairman
when interviewed says he was not in the position to tell the actual
number of voters at this hour. The Freedom Newspaper opinion poll
surveyors were told by the chairman that there were slightly over one
million voters in the country in 2005, but the chairman could not tell
us the latest statistics as we spoke. Our surveyors were able to rattle
the the IEC cage during our survey. The said survey is not intended to
cast doubt on the electoral process neither to hijack it. We report
information passed to us by voters whose minds were sounded on the
coming polls. Jammeh should not resort to arresting Darboe because of
the said opinion poll. The said survey was done in the sprite of
empowering our voters to determine the destiny of their own country. We
thank all those who participated or extended help in the said month
long survey. To those of you branding the Freedom Newspaper as a NADD
Newspaper are free once again come and accused us of being UDP
supporters. We support no party in the Gambia. The said opinion poll
represents the wishes of the Gambian people and not the position of the
Freedom Newspaper. We are merely disseminating the views and wishes of
our people. Period.
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Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 (Archive on Sunday, October 29, 2006)
Posted by PNMBAI Contributed by PNMBAI
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