Gambian President Yahya Jammeh fired the head and two other senior officials of the country's Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) on Friday, accusing them of running poor elections and favouring opposition parties, Reuters reported. A presidency statement said Jammeh had replaced IEC Chairman Gabriel Roberts and two other members of the commission, which is charged with organising elections for president in 2006 and parliament the following year in the tiny West African state. The statement accused the IEC of failing in its duties because polling booths in 1996 and 2001 presidential elections were too dark for voters to distinguish between photographs and campaigning colours of different candidates. It said voting tokens -- marbles voters drop onto a bell in the metal drum of their chosen candidate under a unique voting system originally devised by British colonial officials -- were yellow, the colour of the main opposition United Democratic Party, instead of a neutral colour as required by polling rules. --More 0108 Local Time 2208 GMT
