LIBERIA: Voter Registration Gets Underway
….Liberians Challenged To Register To Vote – By: Augustine N. Myers – Ahead of the General and Legislative elections scheduled for October this year, a national voter registration process has got underway across the republic of Liberia.
About 1,780 Voter Registration Centers have been created by the National Elections Commission (NEC) for the convenience of the voting populace, in keeping with the key electoral dates for the conduct of the 2011 Presidential and Legislative polls.
The creation of new VR Centers in inaccessible areas and between long distances will afford many Liberians an opportunity to participate in the process.
Voter registration, which is crucial to the democratic process in Liberia and seen as the forerunner to the pending national elections, will end on February 6, 2010 in line with the key electoral dates for the conduct of impending elections.
Relying on the 2008 National Population and Housing Census results, NEC has approximated about 2.1 million potential voters to participate in the voter registration exercise. Time and again, the National Elections Commission (NEC) continues to inform the electorate that all voters will vote where they registered.
The new round of voter registration necessary owing to the fact that the Voter Registration Card used in the 2005 elections is no longer tenable and will not be used for the 2011 polls, according to NEC.
NEC has meanwhile beefed up the capacity of its staff, Cognizant of the enormity of the task ahead, with the recruitment of additional staff in the 15 political sub-division of the country.
In a related development, the Liberian, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is challenging Liberians to turnout and register to vote in the October Presidential and Legislative elections.
President Johnson-Sirleaf speaking over the week-end in her home town in Bomi County where she had gone to register, also called Liberians to help a violence-free election that will be free, fair and transparent.
She said, Liberians have a collective responsibility to ensure the democratic process is sustained.
President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa’s first female democratic elected President, is seeking re-election.
