By: Haddy Touray
The United Democratic Party (UDP) has called on the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to provide a full reconciliation of figures from the recently concluded 2026 Supplementary Voter Registration exercise, saying the move is aimed at strengthening public confidence in the electoral process.
UDP Secretary General and party leader, ANM Ousainu Darboe, made the call during a press conference where he said the party’s review of the registration exercise identified discrepancies between figures released by the IEC and data provided to political parties.
Darboe said the party was seeking transparency and clarity rather than alleging fraud or wrongdoing.
“The UDP is not alleging fraud or wrongdoing. We are simply asking for a full reconciliation of the figures so that all political parties and the Gambian people can have confidence that the electoral register accurately reflects the outcome of the registration exercise,” he said.
According to Darboe, the UDP had engaged the IEC before the start of the supplementary registration exercise in April 2026 to discuss concerns from previous voter registration exercises, including measures to prevent multiple registrations.
He said the party proposed providing technical support to help minimize duplicate registrations but was informed by the Commission that introducing such a system before the exercise began would not be feasible due to time limitations.
The UDP leader said the party deployed agents across the country during the registration period to monitor the process and collect registration data, which was later analyzed by the party’s Information Technology team.
He said the IEC announced at a stakeholder forum held at the Kairaba International Conference Centre in June 2026 that 212,095 Gambians had registered during the exercise.
However, Darboe said an analysis of the initial dataset provided to political parties showed a total of 179,445 registered voters, creating a difference of 32,650 voters.
He said following concerns raised by the UDP, the IEC explained that voters registered on 8 April had been omitted from the initial publication and subsequently added 3,713 names, bringing the total to 183,163 voters.
“This still leaves a discrepancy of 28,932 voters,” Darboe said.
He added that although the IEC indicated that 14,334 duplicate registrations should be deducted from the difference, an outstanding figure of 14,598 voters remained unexplained.
The UDP leader said the party formally wrote to the IEC on 16 July requesting the total registration data before deletions, the number of duplicates removed, the final register after deletions, and complete datasets before and after the adjudication process.
The party also requested an extension of the scrutiny period to allow political parties and the public enough time to examine the final voter register once it becomes available.
Darboe said the UDP met with the IEC on the matter and that the party’s technical team would provide further details on the outcome of the engagement.
He reaffirmed the party’s commitment to peaceful democratic participation and constructive engagement with the electoral body and other stakeholders.
“This is not about politics. It is about protecting the confidence of every Gambian voter in our democratic process,” he said.
“Our objective is not confrontation. Our objective is confidence-building.”