The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has deployed 40 observers to monitor the National Assembly Election in The Gambia. 

In a statement ECOWAS said “As part of the ECOWAS electoral support to Member States, the President of the ECOWAS Commission Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, approved the deployment of 40 short-term election observers to The Gambia to support and monitor the entire electoral process.”

The observers were deployed yesterday (7 April ) to the seven administrative regions of the country ahead of Saturday’s parliamentary elections.

The head of the ECOWAS election observation team, Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, in his welcome address highlighted that ECOWAS regularly deploys observers to ensure that elections are conducted in peaceful atmosphere for the consolidation of peace and security in the region.

“I am fully aware of the high stakes involved in these elections, the obstacles crossed, the sacrifices made, and the challenges encountered. 

“It is therefore imperative that we succeed in our Mission to ensure that this process is transparent, free, fair, credible, peaceful, and inclusive. We wish to have an inclusive and competitive process that will lead to the acceptance of the verdict of the ballots by all candidates” he said.