Liberia begins preparations for October election

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf talks with President Barack Obama at the White House on May 27, 2010 AFRICA REVIEW/FILE |

Voter registration begins this week in Liberia where a little over a million eligible voters are expected to go to to polls to choose a new president come October.

Last week, the United Nations Development Program provided the country’s National Elections Commission (NEC) with voter registration kits and other materials to facilitate the voter registration process which will run from January 10 to February 6.

The materials which include registration kits, solar panel kits and camera kits will be distributed to 1,780 voter registration centres across the country.

NEC chairman James Fromoyan told reporters recently in Monrovia that the voter registration was the first indicator of how prepared Liberians are for next year's election.

"A successful voter registration is crucial because it will be a mirror through which the rest of the electoral process will be gauged,” Mr Fromoyan said.

Collective ownership

He pledged that the process will be “transparent, simple, easily accessible, and scrupulously carried out so as to avoid the inclusion of foreigners and minors."

Mr Fromoyan insisted that “it was up to Liberians to actively take part in this registration so that the resulting voter rolls will be accepted by everyone.”

He further explained that the only way this can be achieved is for all Liberians aged 18 and above to get registered to enable them to claim collective ownership of the leadership that will emerge.

"When this is done,” he maintained, “we all will be proud of the final registration roll that will represent the wishes of eligible voters."

In their meeting last week, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and the country’s frontline opposition leader George Weah called for a massive registration awareness campaign that would enable a high rate of enlistment by eligible voters.

Incumbent President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf who is vying for a second five-year mandate won the last polls in a runoff against George Weah who is this year expected to run as an opposition coalition joint candidate.

Both of them pledged to scrupulously respect the outcome of the election.

By: Tamba Jean Matthew (African Review)