By: Christian Conteh
Disqualified National Assembly Nominee Momodou Sabally has been given the go-ahead to start the ball rolling as he seeks to challenge his disqualification by the country’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC)
The UDP Commando had on Friday approached the courts with an ex parte motion praying that the court squashes the electoral body’s decision to reject his nomination.
An ex parte motion is usually reserved for urgent matters where requiring notice would subject one party to irreparable harm. That is to say, the motion can be submitted to the court without informing the other party immediately.
In its ruling on the motion, the high court agrees that the motion has merit and therefore the process of filing papers, serving the various parties and arguing the matter in court is clear to commence.
The Returning Officer at the Independent Electoral Commission’s Brikama Branch is the 1st respondent, the Chairman of the IEC is the 2nd respondent whilst the Attorney General and Minister of Justice is the 3rd respondent.
UDP aspirant for Busumbala Constituency in the forthcoming National Assembly elections on the 9th April 2022 was disqualified and his nomination rejected by the IEC on the grounds that his name was adversely mentioned in the Janneh Commission of Enquiry Report, which makes him ineligible to hold elected public office under Gambian law, a decision the high court now has a duty to look into.
