PHOTO: NEC Chair Davidetta Browne-Lansanah
By Augustine Octavius, augustineoctavius@gmail.com
The National Elections Commission (NEC) has mandated all aspirants, involved in pre-campaigning to take down or remove all their billboards, posters, banner, jingles and other forms of promotional parties’ finaglers by midnight of May 15, 2023
NEC Chairperson, David-Etta Brown-Lansanah disclosed that as of May 5, 2023, the commission has begun documentation of all violations campaign regulations.
The latest move by NEC follows widespread public outcry about repeated violations of pre-campaigning regulations by political parties and politicians from both the ruling and opposition campst.
Independent National Commission on Human Rights (INCHR) Chairman, Cllr. Dempster Browene criticized NEC for not being assertive and proactive in penalizing violators of the election laws and regulations.
That was followed by the European Union (EU) Ambassador in Liberia, Laurent DELAHOUSSE who recently said in a formal statement at a meeting of the Inter-Party Coordination Committee (IPCC):
“We support fully the National Elections Commission to organise the election. We have full trust in the National Elections Commission. We call on political parties and the National Elections Commission to be very clear on the implementation of the election regulations. The campaign regulations are very important because, for the functioning of the Liberian democracy, it is essential that there is a level playing field. It is essential that all players follow the same rules, that there are no players who start campaigning before the others. There are objective differences between the means and resources available to political parties, but the rules must be the same and the rules must be strictly enforced by the National Elections Commission and strictly respected by the political parties.”
On Monday, May 8, 2023, the NEC Chairman Madam Lansanah told the regular bi-monthly biometric voter registration briefing that effective May 15, her Commission want all pre-campaign paraphernalia, radio jingles and dramas, street banners and billboard to be removed or the violators will face the penalties spelled out in the election laws.
According to her, NEC will be unwavering in enforcing the 2023 revised and published guideline on campaigning and warned all aspirants to desist in order to avoid embarrassment.
Madam Browne-Lansanah warned that failure to comply with the mandate will eventually lead to consequences of candidate nomination which runs from the June 14 to July 14, 2023.
Meanwhile, during the Inter-Party Coordination Committee (IPCC) meeting held in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County recently, the commission reaffirmed its commitment to begin enforcing the 30 percent female representation on the list of parties, alliances, collaboration or coalition.
According to a NEC press release, political parties under the auspices of the IPCC and in collaboration with the National Elections Commission reached agreement on the implementation of the 30 percent gender quota for candidates listing for the 2023 elections.
The meeting, which was held from May 5-to 6, 2023, was conducted by NEC and funded by the UN Women Liberia office.