The parliamentary candidates for the April elections have been strongly urged to embrace peace throughout the election process.

The advice comes on the back of a symbolic code of conduct signing ceremony ahead of the parliamentary elections.

Sixteen parliamentary candidates from the West Coast Region today (30 March) signed the document pledging to desist from inciting rhetoric against opponents. Other candidates are expected to sign the document later in the day.

Speaking at the ceremony held at the International Conference Centre in Bijilo, Ousman Yabo, a local facilitator said: “I am calling on the candidates because you’re key in ensuring peace prevail. I am calling on the candidates to ensure that they desist from insult, hate speech, religious remark, tribal differences.

“By doing so, you’re saving your own life. If you creat a situation where there will be violence, you will not know who is safe and who will be safe. So I urge you the candidates to stand firm, to commit yourself to this code of conduct.

“The social media is a concern to everybody in this country when you listen to voices whether in the country or outside country.”

Yabo continued: “And you begin to wonder whether those people are Gambians or whether those people are lovers of the Gambian people, because some of those remarks can cause an endless violence and that can lead to other uncomfortable situation.

“Let us look at what is happening in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea (Conakry), the people in those countries are now not at peace because power has been forced on them. A military coup, do we want that in the Gambia? No. And to avoid that we must do our election in a peaceful manner.”

Reporting by Adama Makasuba