13. The communication is dated 19th June 1990 The Commission was seized of the
communication at the 8thSession and the government of The Gambia was notified on
6th November 1990. From 1990 to 1995, the Commission proceeded to verify the exhaustion
of local remedies.
14. At the 17th session the communication was declared admissible on the basis that
exhaustion of local remedies had been unduly prolonged.
15. On 20th April 1995 a letter was sent to the Complainants and the Gambian Government,
stating that the communication was admissible.
16. The Commission received a letter from the Attorney General’s Chambers and Ministry
of Justice of The Gambia, conceding that the grievances expressed by the Complainants
are valid and logical, and that the present electoral law is being reviewed with the objective
of curing the present anomalies.
17. On 20th December 1995, the Complainant was informed of this response with the
specification that if the Secretariat does not receive arguments to the contrary before the
1st February 1996, the Commission would consider the communication to have been
resolved amicably.
Law
Admissibility
18. The PDOIS argued that it was beyond the jurisdiction of the judiciary to order Parliament
to change defective procedures and laws; thus, recourse to the courts was not an option.
The Complainant alleged that, while the Elections Act provides for objections to voter lists to
be made before a revising officer appointed by the Supervisor of Elections, the fact that the
voter lists posted did not include a list of addresses made effective scrutiny impossible. The
complaint noted that numerous letters had been addressed to the Supervisor of Elections
and the President of the Republic as early as 1987 with no response.
19. The Government noted that in July 1990, the complainant did file a Notice of Objection
and sent it to the Commissioner of Western Division. The document was forwarded to the
Revising Court. No action appeared to have been taken by the court.
20. On the basis of these facts the communication was declared admissible.
Merits