IEC to Publish Provisional Voter Register on 7 July…

IEC to Publish Provisional Voter Register on 7 July…

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) will publish the provisional voter register across The Gambia on 7 July 2026, allowing registered voters to verify their details ahead of the 5 December 2026 presidential election. Announcing the exercise, IEC Chairperson Joseph Colley said the commission will deploy its personnel to all designated voter registration centres nationwide to display the provisional register for public scrutiny. “Starting from the 7th July 2026, the commission will deploy its personnel to publish the provisional lists at all designated registration centres countrywide,” Colley said. He urged voters and stakeholders to carefully examine the register to ensure that only eligible Gambians are included and that any errors are corrected. “We therefore encourage voters and stakeholders to properly and meticulously scrutinise the lists for the purpose of corrections. This will furthermore help to ascertain that only eligible Gambians are on the registration lists,” he said. Colley reminded the public that any claim, appeal or objection must be accompanied by a D50 fee, as required by law. “The fee of D50 is to accompany any claim of appeal or objection, as required by law,” he said. The IEC chairperson also announced that all registered political parties will receive a soft copy of the provisional voter register free of charge as of 2 July 2026. According to Colley, the commission has initiated discussions with political parties to address issues that could affect the credibility of the voter register. He said a meeting was held on 29 June 2026 at Election House with 15 of the 22 political parties registered at the time to discuss documented cases of double and multiple voter registration. “The focus was on how to deal with the documented cases of double or multiple registration committed by 14,334 voters,” he said. Colley said the parties agreed that the names of persons who registered more than once during the 2026 voter registration exercise would be removed from the 2026 register while their names would remain in the 2021 voter register. “At the end of very constructive discussions, it was decided to delete the names of those who registered twice or more in 2026, while maintaining their names in the 2021 voter register,” he said. He added that the commission would pursue legal action in cases where voter registration fraud is suspected. “In the case of suspected registration fraud, the commission will initiate legal proceedings in order to ensure the integrity of the voter register,” Colley said. The IEC chairperson further disclosed that the commission, in collaboration with its partners, particularly the ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions (ECONEC), plans to organise training workshops to improve stakeholders’ understanding of the electoral process. He said the training will target IEC personnel as well as representatives of key institutions involved in elections. “This will include the media, IPC, CSOs, Police among othe…

Source: Foroyaa Gambia