Signing ceremony of the Code of Conduct for Presidential Candidates

Honourable Leader of the Supreme Islamic Council

Honourable Leader of the Christian Council

Honourable Presidential Candidates

Honourable Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission

Honourable Co-Chairs of the Inter-Party Committee

Your Excellency Dr. Chambas

Representatives of International IDEA

Honourable Local Facilitators Mrs. Renner and Mr. Yabo

The Media,

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen

It is an honour for me to stand before you this afternoon to offer some words of support on behalf of the United Nations System for this noble initiative in support of peaceful elections in The Gambia. 

Let me first congratulate the 6 presidential candidates on the success of your respective nominations and wish you, one and all, the very best of luck during your campaigns.

Let me also congratulate the Independent Electoral Commission, under the able leadership of its chairperson, for the work it has carried out thus far, most notably in registering voters and processing presidential nominations ahead of the Dec4th Presidential polls.  The professionalism and transparency of your work is to be commended and will continue to be of critical importance to the success of the coming electoral cycle. 

Finally, let me commend International IDEA and Dr. Chambas for this initiative to unite presidential candidates around the common goal of conducting a peaceful and transparent presidential election that will allow the sovereign people of The Gambia to freely choose their leader for the next five years. 

Your initiative to elaborate a Code of Conduct to be signed today by the presidential candidates builds upon and complements important work that the Inter-Party Committee has been carrying out with the support of the UN system in The Gambia and the National Democratic Institute. 

On the 26th of October 2021, the Inter-Party Committee convened a high-level “National Stakeholders’ Forum in Support of Peaceful & Credible Elections in The Gambia,” during which leaders of political parties committed themselves to the highest standards of participating in the electoral process in the presence of key national stakeholders and high-level observers from the UN, ECOWAS and the AU. 

The leaders of all 18 officially-registered political parties in The Gambia have now signed a Peace Pledge — also known as the Janjanbureh Peace Accord — developed by the Inter-Party Committee, which builds upon the foundations of the Constitution, the Electoral Law, the IPC’s Memorandum of Understanding and the IEC Code of Ethics and which places particularly emphasises on the importance of abstaining from hate speech and foul language during electoral campaigns. 

The Code of Conduct that presidential candidates will sign this afternoon will be an important will be crucial to help ensure that the December 4 presidential election will be characterised by substantive political debate and that presidential candidates and their supporters will be held to the highest standards on the campaign trail, on election day, and during the immediate post-election period.

To conclude, I once again congratulate and commend the presidential candidates, International IDEA and Dr. Chambas for this initiative and look forward to a peaceful, transparent, free and fair presidential election to be decided by the people of The Gambia. 

Thank you.