Henry Karmo
Africa-Press – Liberia. The National Elections Commission (NEC) has reported that it is making progress in the deployment of electoral materials in preparation for the October 10th polls, covering 11 out of the 15 counties, while the remaining four are currently being packaged.
As of October 2nd, 2023, the Chairperson of the National Elections Commission, Davidetta Brown-Lansannah, stated that electoral materials have been deployed in the following counties: Sinoe, Maryland, Grand Kru, River Gee, River Cess, Grand Gedeh, Lower Lofa, Upper Lofa, Lower Nimba, Upper Nimba, Gbarpolu, Grand Cape Mount, Lower Bong, and Upper Bong. Materials for the remaining four counties, namely Montserrado, Bomi, Grand Bassa, and Margibi, are in the process of being packaged and will be deployed this week.
The NEC Chairperson also informed reporters that the Commission had ordered the reprint of the ballot papers for electoral district 1 of Margibi County due to an error in which a political party’s initial was mistakenly placed under the logo of an independent candidate, Mr. Jomah Samuels. The error has been rectified, and the corrected ballots, printed in Ghana, arrived yesterday. They are expected to be delivered to the NEC central warehouse today.
“Training for temporary staff for the October 10th polls is proceeding as planned. The following categories and numbers of staff have completed their training across the country: 79 Electoral District Coordinators, 382 Electoral Supervisors, 5,890 Presiding Officers, and 5,890 Voter Identification Officers. Training for other temporary staff will commence soon. The accreditation of agents for political parties and independent candidates is currently underway. The Commission urges political parties and independent candidates to visit the NEC Political Affairs Office to complete the accreditation process.”
Addressing outstanding issues at the NEC, the Chairperson mentioned a matter involving Mr. Victor W. Wreh, who was an aspirant for Electoral District #3 in Montserrado County during the nomination process. She explained that Mr. Wreh had made an inquiry concerning his application for nomination, and his request for a hearing was granted by the Political Affairs Section and the NEC Legal Coordinator. However, he was encouraged to formalize his concerns for discussion after failing to adequately respond with evidence to the nomination checklist. Mr. Wreh has since forwarded a communication on this matter to the NEC. It should be noted that while the Commission will grant him an audience, he cannot qualify as a candidate after the nomination process has ended.
Regarding the attempted hacking during the Lofa Senatorial By-election, the Chairperson stated that the Justice Ministry and NEC had discussed increasing the security of the NEC website, which the NEC has complied with.
Responding to questions about “increasing the number of registrants on the Final Registration Roll,” she clarified that there was no increase in the figure, which remains at 2,471,617, as previously announced. The preliminary figures were announced during the data processing of the first and second phases of collation. After deduplication and adjudication, the Commission announced the Final Registration Roll of 2,471,617 eligible voters for the October 10th, 2023 Elections.
Regarding election security, the NEC Chairperson emphasized that it is the responsibility of the government, and the Commission is working with the joint security forces to finalize security arrangements for the October 10th, 2023 General Elections. She expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Justice and the security apparatus for providing security to the Commission since the beginning of the electoral process.
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