The United Democratic Party (UDP) has assured Gambians that every vote cast in the December presidential election will be protected and counted as cast.
Speaking on Kerr Fatou’s weekly current affairs program The Grand Bantaba on Friday, Lamin Manneh, the party’s deputy administrative secretary for external affairs, outlined measures designed to safeguard the integrity of the polls.
Mr. Manneh said UDP agents will be stationed alongside officials of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) throughout the voting and counting process to prevent external interference. “Votes will be counted in the presence of all party agents, with forms completed in front of everyone and result slips verified before any publication,” he explained.
He added that the UDP will conduct its own verification exercise and publish results compiled from slips collected at polling stations, noting that the law permits such action. Because all parties will hold identical slips, he said, the IEC must be prepared to account for any figures it announces.
Dismissing claims that the election has already been stolen, Mr. Manneh described such talk as an attempt to discourage voter participation. “What people need to know is that the election will not be stolen this year,” he declared.
He further warned against the use of invalid voter cards, stressing that UDP agents have been instructed to scrutinize each card carefully to confirm ownership. “I challenge anyone to present a 2025 voter card at a polling station,” he said.
Reflecting on past elections, Mr. Manneh argued that if irregularities similar to those of five years ago were to recur, the opposition would have only itself to blame. He emphasized that the UDP has spent the past five years working to prevent electoral theft.
The party’s goal, he said, is a fair and transparent election in which both winner and loser are clearly known and accepted. “We said never again. We won’t go back again. Nobody will scare us again,” Mr. Manneh concluded.
