More than seven hundred thousand Gambians have so far been registered as the dateline for voter registration edges closer.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) targets to register one million Gambians to vote in the December polls. Last election held in 2016, which resulted in the dramatic defeat of 22-year ruler Yahya Jammeh, saw 800,000 registered.
A statistic of the Independent Electoral Commission showed more females registered than males since it started registering Gambians on 29 May, 2021, as 394 total voters registered for the four weeks, 411, 319 are females and 309, 075 are males.
“In Week 1, the commission registered 191, 509 voters – 109, 675 are females and 81, 834 are males. In Week 2, a total of 184, 583 voters registered – 104, 951 are females and 79,632 are males.
“In Week 3, 180, 674 voters registered – 103, 367 are females and 77, 307 are males. Recently, Week 4, the Commission registered 163, 628 voters – 93, 326 are females and 70, 302 are males,” IEC said in a released statement.
“The total number of females registered stands at 411, 319 while that of males is 309, 075; pushing the grand total of males and females’ voters registered to 720, 394 voters. This means that more than 100, 000 females’ voters registered than their male counterparts. However, the weekly tallies show a continuous decline in turn out for registration.
“To meet the target 1.2 million voters, the IEC must register 280, 000 voters between 26th June to 11th July 2021, at least 140, 000 voters in each of the remaining two weeks,” it added.
