A ruling by the Supreme Court on Wednesday has paved the way for tens of thousands of Gambians who live abroad to be able to vote in elections in The Gambia.
Chief Justice Hassan B Jallow alongside four other top justices jointly declared parts of the nation’s election law which bars citizens who live abroad from voting as unlawful.
GFA leader Bakary Bunja Darbo and four others last year sued the attorney general and the Independent Electoral Commission at the nation’s top court asking the court to declare Sections 17 and 105 as unconstitutional. They also asked the court to order the IEC to register Gambians who live abroad to enable them to vote in ‘all public elections and referenda’.
And on Wednesday the justices held that every Gambian including those residing outside are entitled to register for and vote in elections to the “offices of president, members of the national assembly, for local government offices and traditional rulers as well as in referenda”.
