By Frank Sainworla, Jr– fasinworla@yahoo.com
At a stakeholders’ dialogue in Monrovia on Thursday, Election Magistrates from Liberia’s 15 counties have advanced a number of recommendations to strengthen electoral integrity, while calling for insurance coverage.
The Magistrates supervise elections related activities for the National Elections Commission (NEC) across the country.
They said the provision of insurance coverage was important given the critical and sensitive role of election Magistrates, while recommending that the “status of Magistrates be clearly defined” to know whether they have the rank of Director or what.
The Magistrates converged at a local hotel on December 19, 2018 at the one-day dialogue organized by the Elections Coordinating Committee (ECC) supported by the USIAD-funded National Democratic Institute (NDI).
They recounted the many success stories and challenges made in past regular national and bi-elections in Liberia saying, everything must be done to improve the electoral system.
The dialogue was held under the theme: “Strengthening electoral integrity, building citizens trust in the Election Management Body by identifying regulatory and legal reforms needed to improve elections in Liberia.”
Trust and integrity of the electoral process, the Magistrates said must first begin with the credibility of the personnel who conduct any election, calling for regular local and foreign training of election Magistrates.
To improve transparency and efficiency of Liberia’s electoral system, the Magistrates called for the introduction of the biometric system beginning the next regular elections; the decentralization of the nomination of candidates (Legislative); the involvement of Magistrates in the recruitment of civil society election staff; and that recruitment of NEC’s poll workers be done locally and that they should be made to take oath.
It was observed that election laws and regulations such as the one on Domicile need to be enforced to the letter, in order to strengthen transparency and accountability in addition to ensuring timely procurement and deployment of election materials throughout the country.
The election Magistrates also noted that one way to ensure a credible and less cumbersome process of Voter Registration is to extend the VR period or institute continuous registration of Liberians who reach the voting age of 18, so as to avoid over crowdedness and rush during the regular VP process.
Other challenges they said need to be avoided in future elections are to ensure that election Supervisors are hired on a one-year contract ahead of the polls; and the timely compensation of poll workers and payment of owners of facilities hosting VR and polling activities.
Facilitating the one-day ECC’s stakeholders’ dialogue with election Magistrates was the Executive Director of the National Youth Movement for Transparent Elections (NAYMOTE), Mr. Eddie Jarwolo. He said if the electoral process is credible, the leaders emerging therefrom will get the public’s respect.
Mr. Jarwolo, who is also a member of the ECC’s Executive Committee, said one of the objectives of the dialogue was to appreciate the positive strides and look at what needs to be reformed in Liberia’s electoral system and “getting it right”.
“The electorate need to build trust in the electoral system,” the NAYMOTE Director pointed. And he commended election Magistrates for the contributions they made in ensuring the success of the 2017 presidential and legislative elections.
According to Mr. Jarwolo, although Liberia’s electoral system needs further reform, improving transparency and accountability in the election process is beyond money.
According to him, Liberia now has the highest elections budget per capita in the West African sub-region.
In neigbouring Ghana, the ECC executive told Thursday’s gathering, statistics show that in the elections budget it is US$3 dollars per person, while in Liberia it is US$20 per person.