Monrovia – The National Elections Commission (NEC) has declared campaign activities open for the Senatorial by-election in Sinoe County and the Representative by-election in Montserrado County District #13.
Report by Henry Karmo [email protected]
The campaign period commenced from October 17, 2018 and ends at midnight on Sunday, November 18, 2018. Candidates are advised to go about their campaign in a peaceful manner void of violence and in keeping with the laws of Liberia and more specifically those controlling the electoral process.
“They are asked to submit their campaign schedules to the Elections Magistrates to avoid conflict during the campaign. Parties and candidates listed herein are asked to submit the list of agents that will man the pools on their behalf on November 20, 2018,” the NEC said in a statement.
The two by-elections come as a result of the election of Represensive Saah Joseph as Senator of Montserrado County formerly of District #13 and the appointment Senator Joseph Nagbe of Sinoe County to the Supreme Court Bench.
Meanwhile, Cllr. Sarah Toe, Co-Chair also announced Wednesday that the NEC has received a complaint from Mr. Mohammed Massaquoi, a resident of District #13 against Mr. Sepo Sando Moore.
Mr. Massaquoi contends that Mr. Moore has not been domicile in Montserrado District 13 for one year prior to the by-election as required by law and that he is not a registered voter.
The complaint has been forwarded to the Independent Hearing Officer for adjudication.
To prepare for the polls, NEC announced that it has recruited a total of 36 Civic Educators and Gender Mobilizers for the two elections.
Training for these civic educators and gender mobilizers will begin on October 18 and deployment will commence on October 20, 2018.
Once deployed, the civic educators and gender mobilizers will provide door-to-door information on the by-elections to residents in the two electoral areas (Montserrado District #13 and Sinoe County).
“In furtherance of the CVE initiative for the by-elections, the Civic and Voter Education Section will on October 22, 2018, begin consultation with relevant stakeholders in the areas where the by-elections are being held. Those consultations are intended to create awareness and mobilize citizens to turn out to vote in the by-elections on November 20, 2018,” said Cllr. Toe.
Deployment of Base Teams
Cllr. Toe said, in an effort to beef up the manpower need in Sinoe County, said the Commission has deployed two teams to assist the Elections magistrate in the conduct of the Senatorial By-election.
According to her, one team is deployed in Billibo Creek while the other is in Diyankpo. These teams will assist the magistrates to provide access to the electoral process for locals in those areas.
“It was quite a difficult challenge to get the base teams in because of the bad road condition but we are glad they made it finally,” she said.
The Commission also on September 17, 2018 published the list of twelve (12) candidates to contest the Representative by-election in Montserrado County District #13 and four (4) candidates to contest the Senatorial By-election in Sinoe County.
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