Yankuba Touray, Darboe, Halifa React to NA Results
Monday 29th January 2007

Barely 72 hours after the announcement of the January 25th National Assembly election results, APRC’s National Mobiliser, Yankuba Touray, UDP’s Lawyer Ousainou Darboe and NADD’s Halifa Sallah each made a statement in reaction to the outcome of the elections. Below are the comments of the three: -

Yankuba Touray

Well I think the elections are free and fair and the fact that Gambians have voted for the APRC candidates is a clear testimony of their support for the president’s development agenda for the country. The APRC’s landslide victory is due to the president’s development programme achieved during the past five years. It is in recognition of this that Gambians have been constantly voting for President Yahya Jammeh and the APRC National Assembly candidates.

In his view of the comparative values of the two elections, Mr Touray noted that National Assembly elections are not comparable to the presidential elections, adding that the outcome of the results are a reflection of that reality.

Lawyer Ousainou Darboe

In his reaction to the outcome of the NA elections, Mr Darboe said, “Well I think basically there has been a great deal of voter apathy. The reason for this is a matter of opinion. I believe the ordinary Gambian voter is of the view that there is no need for any one to go out to the polls because at the end of the day their votes are not given effort which I think is not right,” adding that every vote counts.

Mr Darboe stated that considering the results, there is a shift in other constituencies who believe that the regime is not delivering to them. According to him, all the UDP candidates who win are of high calibre, integrity and focus. “I am sure they will participate in the National Assembly without bias. They will go there with sentiments of the people they represent and the Gambian people at large and not with UDP or party sentiments,” he observed.

Halifa Sallah

Looking at the votes, you will see variations in the support base and what is amazing is the voter apathy. From my own angle, my result was as a result of two factors.

One, if you look at the UDP and what it has, it is very clear that as an opposition, I have a better chance of winning than any UDP candidate. If they have not put up a candidate in Serrekunda Central, then the one-to-one contest would have been more favourable to me as the incumbent.

Secondly, the fact that there was voter apathy, especially among the young people who have traditionally voted for me, is an indication that the voting pattern in the country is still dictated by factors other than popular sentiments and clarity. People are not being simply informed by what the candidates said and therefore they just go and vote but as at now, I accept the results of the election as they are.

By looking at the results thoroughly through, one could also see that NADD is making a tremendous headway because looking at the presidential elections compared with the National Assembly results, NADD is making a fast growth that a party can make in any political set-up.

It could be recalled that of the 628,160 voters registered, 261,974 or 41.7%, voted countrywide.

In the January 25th National Assembly elections, APRC got 42 seats, UDP 4 seats, NADD 1 seat, Independent 1 while NRP secured no seats.