To Roll Out Biometric Voter Registration
PHOTO: ECOWAS delegation and NEC Board of Commissioners during the weekend meeting
By Augustine Octavius, augustineoctavius@gmail.com
For the first time, Liberia is expected to experiment Biometric Voter Registration in the upcoming October 10, 2023 presidential and legislative elections and the Chairperson of the National Elections Commission (NEC) has appealed to the sub-regional grouping, ECOWAS for administrative and technical support.
The appeal was made over the weekend by the Chairperson of NEC, Davidetta Browne Lansanah at a meeting with a visiting fact-finding team from Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Monrovia.
ECOWAS support is needed because this will help to strengthen data management and to build confidence in the BVR process, which is being used in Liberia for the first time, with virtually not nationwide civic and voter education under way yet.
This exercise is scheduled to start on March 20 and the Commission has said it will end on May 11, 2023.
In the last presidential and legislative elections in this country in 2017, an ECOWAS technical team was deployed in Liberia to clean up the country’s national voters roll.
During the meeting, the NEC Chair lauded ECOWAS for its support and leading but critical role it has played to strengthen the Liberian electoral process over the years, particularly over the last two decades.
“You will recall in 2017, ECOWAS technical team was deployed to the commission and worked with our technicians to clean the voter roll thus ensuring the credibility of the final registration roll prior to the conduct of those elections,” the head of NEC stated.
According to her, ECOWAS has always played a leading and critical role in Liberia’s peace process particularly over the last two decades.
“The West African regional organization has given immeasurably support to democratic governance through sustained engagement with all actors and stakeholders in Liberia including NEC,” said Madam Lansanah
The Resident Ambassador of ECOWAS in Liberia, Ambassador Josephine Nkrumah, who accompanied the delegation to NEC, said the fact-finding mission was the first of many others to be deployed in Liberia to gather information in preparation for the 2023 Elections.
“As a fact-finding mission, the delegation will listen to comments and suggestions from stakeholders on the 2023 General Elections and study how ECOWAS can assist NEC,” Amb. Nkrumah explained.
She informed the meeting that the ECOWAS mission has had insightful engagements with relevant stakeholders to the elections, including political parties.
ECOWAS is assessing what support it can provide during the BVR exercise and general elections.
Amb. Nkrumah noted that if all stakeholders, including the media, can work together for the successful conduct of the BVR exercise and general elections, it would demonstrate to the rest of the world that Liberia’s democracy is maturely growing, even in the absence of United Nations Mission in Liberia
Meanwhile, the RCOWAS diplomat has admonished the media to be fair in their reportage, because it must assist NEC in providing adequate and massive civic and voter education.
The ECOWAS delegation includes Francis Oke, head of Elections Assistance of ECOWAS and head of delegation, and Ebenezer Asiedu, Principal Officer of the Directorate of Political Affairs.