Monrovia – The Chairman of the National Elections Commission, Cllr. Jerome Korkoyah, says it is negligible that the names of over 13,000 people were omitted from the voter’s roll exhibition.
The National Elections Commission on June 12, 2017, commenced the Exhibition of the Provisional Voter Roll at all 2080 Exhibition centers (formerly Voter Registration Centers) across the country.
The exercise is a cardinal electoral date as per Article 9.2 of the Voter Registration Regulations and in keeping with section 3.6 of the New Elections Law of Liberia.
The NEC chairman’s statement comes based on a request from the Senate asking him to appear, following a letter from Senator Oscar Cooper who complained of irregularitites in the voter’s roll exhibition.
Korkoya remains embattled as he trying to wade through a lawsuit by Dr. Togba Nah Tipoteh, famed singer Miatta Fahnbulleh and the National Democratic Coalition for allegedly being a citizen of the United States of America.
“Given what we have here except for parts of Gbapolu County, the total number of people appearing and complaining that they did not see their names amounts to 13,000, which amounts to 0.6 percent”, Chairman Korkoyah disclosed.
The total number of people who file challenges is about 141 which is equivalent to 0.01 percent while 534 accounts for missing photos 0.003.
“In electoral practice, that number is negligible and that is why this period is being dedicated to correct that.”
“Let me assure you that everybody who availed themselves during our voter registration process and was issued valid voter registration ID card official by the NEC and who is not otherwise disqualified under our law will be accounted for and will have the opportunity under our law to vote.”
He said the 1,780 polling registration centres were insufficient, resulting in the NEC assigning additional centers based on a commitment from a partner.
“We need a total of 4,000 centres so we had anticipated adding more under the very difficult situation.”
“The number of centres we had anticipated creating was not possible.
“We had identified addition 600 centres but were only able to have 300.”
“We started voter registration very late due to the late supply of voter registration materials,” he added.
Chairman Korkoya’s recent statement at a press conference in Monrovia that every person holding valid registration will be allowed to vote on October 10 has sparked criticism from political players including civil society organizations.