Monrovia –NAYMOTE Partners for Democratic Development will be hosting what is expected to be the biggest non-partisan voter education campaign to boost young people turnout to register for the 2017 Presidential and Legislative elections.
Codenamed – “Super Thursday”, the campaign targets 5,000 Liberian citizens to register on Thursday, February 9, 2017 around six counties.
The campaign will use mobile phones, social media, door-to-door visitations and bus rides to get citizens to register and help the National Elections Commission reach the 2.5 million registered voters.
The Super Thursday campaign will climax with the hosting of the second phase of the Inter-Party Youth Debates Series at the Williams V.S. Tubman, High School on 12th Street Sinkor, at 12:00 noon Friday, February 10.
The inter-party debates series will enable young people access the manifestos of political parties on what young people care about most and how the various political parties manifestos affect young people who constitute greater portion of the voting population to inspire their choice for vote.
Speakers will include representatives from the political parties’ youth congresses.
The debate is being held against the background that young people age 18-32 years constitute 55% of the 1,903,229 registered voters in Liberia currently.
The dividends of their participation in decision-making and political processes are lacking.
The challenges they face are unprecedented, ranging from the lack of basic social services to unemployment, multiple forms of inequalities and exclusion. By all indications, their votes will obviously make huge impact in the October 2017 elections.
It is expected that over 500 young voters from across Montserrado County will participate in the one-day inter-party youth debate series on topical national policy issues including Health, Job Creation, among others.
The event is organized by the Naymote Partners for Democratic Development through the Young Political Leadership School (YPLS) graduates, with support from the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).
The institution’s executive director, Eddie D. Jarwolo, said second debate will features five leading political parties including the Coalition for Democratic Change, Unity Party, Liberty Party, Alternative National Congress and the All Liberian Party.
Mr. Jarwolo, said these debates are aimed at fostering electoral and political accountability while also seeking to empower voters to effectively participate in the electoral process and enable them make informed choices.
At the end of these debates, the positions of the young debaters from the political parties on the issues under discussion will be documented and used to strengthen political parties’ manifestos and enable NAYMOTE and the larger Liberian populace to hold the winning party and other candidates accountable to the voters to fulfill their campaign or party platforms.
The U.S Based International Campaign Fellow and the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) Regional Coordinator Clarence Jackson will moderate the second debate series.