By: Foday Manneh
The Vice Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), Joseph Colley, has declared that “there are no two APRCs” and said, “the IEC is going by the Fabakary Tombong Jatta-led Executive.”
Joseph said so during the commission’s monthly stakeholders forum on Wednesday, November 9, 2022.
“As far as the commission is concerned, there are no two APRCs. There is only one APRC because, from our records, the party’s last congress was held in 2020, and we go by that Executive,” Colley announced.
“The APRC constitution, which is no secret, says one man cannot sack anybody because it has to go through a disciplinary committee; and, then, the Executive is empowered to approve the expelling of anybody,” Colley further stated.
In October last year, the former party leader of the APRC, Yahya Jammeh, announced the sacking of the Fabakary Tombong Jatta-led Executive after it formed a coalition with President Adama Barrow’s NPP ahead of the 2021 presidential elections.
Consequently, there was a split in the APRC, and a faction emerged formed by those who declared that they continued to be loyal to Yahya Jammeh.
Yahya Jammeh’s supporters, led by Yaya Tamba, have since claimed to be the legitimate party and vowed to use the party’s logo.
However, in the 2022 National Assembly elections, the faction fielded candidates contesting as Independents since they were not considered by the IEC as belonging to the legally-registered political party.
Meanwhile, according to The Standard newspaper, the faction of the APRC loyal to Yahya Jammeh has asked the IEC to look into the issue of the APRC as a party with two rival factions.
The report said the IEC was asked during the forum if it would facilitate negotiations between the two sides.
