Monrovia – In keeping with chapter 4, section 4.3 (2) of the new election laws of Liberia, the National elections Commission (NEC) has issued writ of election declaring the 2017 electoral process officially open.
Report by Henry Karmo – [email protected]
Chapter 4, section 4.3 (2) of the New Elections laws of Liberia as amended in 2016, provides that upon directive of the Commission, the Clerk of writs shall issue writs for each election not later than 90 days prior to the time prescribed for the election.
The writs shall direct the Magistrate of Election for each County/district in accordance with the provisions of this title and the regulations and instructions of the commission.
In his statement NEC chairman Jerome Korkoyah said, the writ signifies two very important things in the electioneering process.
“First, it serves as a directive to the elections Magistrates to proceed with the conduct of the elections consistent with the laws controlling and the transitioning from pre-election to actual election,” Korkoyah said.
He said, apart from the exhibition of the voter roll which takes place on June 12-17, 2017 the next important activity in keeping with the electoral timeline is the nomination of candidates from june19-july 11, 2017.
“As we enter the actual electoral process today, we call on all employees of the Commission (permanent and temporary) to take this assignment entrusted to us by the Liberian people seriously,” he added.
The NEC chair wants all stakeholders including Political parties, civil society Organizations, the Media and international partners to get actively involved in the process.
He furthered committed the NEC to organizing all citizens who registered during the 2017 voters registration exercise to participate in the forthcoming exhibition exercise which takes place on June 12-17, 2017.
Voter registration data
Giving updates on the 2017 voter registration data entry process, Korkoyah said as of May 9, 2017, the Commission has received and recorded a total of 2,153,972 (two Million one Hundred fifty-three Thousand nine hundred seventy-two) forms representing the total number of forms from the 2017 registration exercise.
Of that amount Korkoyah said, 1,802, 576 (one Million eight hundred two thousand five hundred seventy-six) forms have been scanned and of the total number of scanned forms, 1,482,366 (one Million four hundred eighty-two thousand three hundred sixty-six) forms have been processed.