PHOTO: (L-R) Cummings-ANC, Boakai-UP, Sen. Karnga-LP and Urey-ALP
As NEC begins its Voter Roll Update today, Friday (September 11, 2020), the four-party Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) has rejected its mobile voters registration and expressed concern about the “non-compliance to clean-up the voters roll”.
CPP, which is currently chaired by former Presidential candidate Alexander Cummings, comprises the former ruling Unity Party, the opposition Liberty Party, the Alternative National Congress and the All Liberian Party. And the group has taken the National Elections Commission to task in a letter addressed to NEC’s Chairman, Mrs. Davidetta Browne-Lansanah.
Other groups, including the Elections Coordinating Committee (ECC) have also in recent times taken NEC to task for what they said is the commission’s failure to clean-up the national voters role. But the Commission had in the past said that the voters roll had indeed been subjected to cleaning.
“While the CPP believes that your stewardship at the NEC would be characterized by integrity, credibility and unwavering patriotism exclusively to Mama Liberia, we were gravely concerned that the NEC, in May 2020, requested the Government of Liberia, led by the CDC, to postpone the pending Special Senatorial Election scheduled as per the Constitution of Liberia for October 2020, without any input whatsoever from, nor reference to other political parties via the established mechanism of the Inter-Party Consultative Committee (IPCC), the key stakeholders/players in the process,” the CPP said in its 10-page letter..
BELOW IS FULL TEXT OF CPP’S LETTER TO NEC:
September 10, 2020
Hon. Davidetta Browne Lansanah
CHAIRMAN
National Elections Commission
9th Street, Sinkor
Monrovia, Liberia
Hon. Chairperson:
I have the honor to extend to you our compliments, and on behalf of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP), write to inform you of our determination to work with the National Elections Commission (NEC) to ensure free, fair and credible democratic elections in Liberia consistent with the rule of Law. In this regard, we wish to reiterate that the peace and stability of our country depend on the ability of the NEC to conduct credible and transparent elections.
While the CPP believes that your stewardship at the NEC would be characterized by integrity, credibility and unwavering patriotism exclusively to Mama Liberia, we were gravely concerned that the NEC, in May 2020, requested the Government of Liberia, led by the CDC, to postpone the pending Special Senatorial Election scheduled as per the Constitution of Liberia for October 2020, without any input whatsoever from, nor reference to other political parties via the established mechanism of the Inter-Party Consultative Committee (IPCC), the key stakeholders/players in the process.
We are amazed because the NEW MANAGEMENT TEAM at the National Elections Commission arrived at such a monumental decision with no reference to the Collaborating Political Parties or other political parties, except the CDC that ultimately made the decision unilateral. For the record, as a major stakeholder in the Liberian political process, we are profoundly disturbed and do hereby register in the strongest terms, our outrage and utter repugnance to the
negative manner in which your new administration has embarked on a very delicate national journey.
While the CPP will not cry now over spilled milk, on the unilateral act of collusion between the NEC and the CDC-led Administration, on effecting the postponement of the Special Senatorial Elections, we shall henceforth seize the moment, day-by-day, to remain robustly and proactively engaged with the sequence and substance of events and processes, moving forward to the Elections Day in December 2020.
In light of the above, the CPP wishes to raise the following fundamental concerns and to request detailed information on, 1. detailed information on the feasibility, integrity and credibility of the pending Voters Roll Update (VRU); 2. the mode of operations and status of the voters roll clean-up exercise; 3. progress towards preparation for the conduct of the December 8 Senatorial Elections and Referendum; and 4, status of your monthly reporting to the National Legislature on the progress of the elections.
- Integrity and Credibility of the Voters Roll Update Process
The CPP considers the Voters Roll Update exercise crucially indispensable and cardinal to the conduct of the 2020 Senatorial Elections, because the exercise will streamline the total Voter Registry of Liberia which stands at two million one hundred eighty-three thousand six hundred twenty-nine (2,183,629) eligible voters. Our keen interest in the VRU process stems from the fact that the 2017 Voter Registration Exercise that gave rise to the current FINAL REGISTRATION ROLL was associated with grave irregularities as authenticated by the Supreme Court of Liberia.
Again, we note that you continue to tread the path of unilateralism, in collusion with the same one party – the CDC-led Administration. Your latest action of launching the Voters Update Exercise and adopting the method by which the exercise (MOBILE PROCESS) would be carried out without any reference to the other parties who are equal competitors in this sacrosanct democratic undertaking, raises grave and unsettling concerns.
This unilateral action on the part of the NEC, in coordination with the CDC-led Administration, to decide on the use of a previously-failed MOBILE PROCESS, instead of the time-tested standard STATIONARY APPROACH, is totally unacceptable and we demand that we stick with the time-tested method of a STATIONARY PROCESS in the pending VOTERS UPDATE EXERCISE.
Our concern of a potentially prospective disastrous outcome using the MOBILE PROCESS in this Voters Update Exercise is justified by the irrefutable realities of the national experience of 2014. In 2014, the Registration process was done by a MOBILE PROCESS for a period of five (5) weeks, in the dry-season month of March, with a problem-free Voters Roll from 2011. Although that process achieved the objectives of including the names of those who had attained the age of 18 years and above then, and those who transferred residence from one location to another, that MOBILE PROCESS encountered serious problems in 2014, because, in many cases, the teams arrived at locations where the people to register had not arrived, or departed when those to do the registration had already left. It is only foolhardy to believe that what could not be properly achieved under favorable conditions in 2014, over a period of five (5) weeks, can be achieved under less favorable conditions in two (2) weeks.
It would interest you to note also that, although the NEC targeted to register one hundred and twenty thousand (120,000) voters in the 2014 VRU, a target the NEC failed to achieve over a period of five months, it is utterly unbelievable that your leadership has planned to magically register three hundred thousand (300,000) voters over a two-week period, as we have gathered from credible sources.
On account of the above, the CPP wishes to inform you that the only viable option to a VOTERS ROLL UPDATE EXERCISE in Liberia is the STATIONARY APPROACH, which entails opening all the precincts across the Country for the entire period of the Registration Process. We note very vehemently that no Voter Registration or Update Exercise has ever been conducted in Liberia for 15 days, particularly in a rainy season, even with the use of the Stationary Approach. To insist that the pending Voters Roll Update Exercise be conducted using the
MOBILE METHODOLOGY is tantamount to mere symbolism and cosmetic showmanship intended to achieve a rigging of the process.
According to you, the current VRU exercise will, 1. verify the eligibility and subsequent inclusion on the Voter Roll of thousands of individuals in possession of Voter Registration cards whose names are not on the Voter Roll, also known as the Final Registration Roll (FRR); 2. Correct errors associated with data of Registrants on the FRR. Such errors include photos that are not recognizable, misspelled names, and placing names in rightful centers where registration was done; 3. Include the names of Liberians who have turned 18 years and above, along with the names of Liberians who were 18 years and above in 2017 but did not participate in the 2017 Voter Registration Exercise; and 4. transfer of the names of individuals who are currently residing in locations different from where they registered in 2017.
As you are aware, the current FRR is critically flawed due to the fact that thousands of Voter Registration Cards are in the possession of individuals whose names are not on the Roll. Moreover, there is more than one version of the FRR in existence, as evidenced by the discovery at the NEC during the 2019 Montserrado County Senatorial and District 15 By-Elections. However, since the 2017 Voter Registration Exercise, many Liberians have attained the age of 18 years and above. As such, they must be included on the FRR during the VOTERS ROLL UPDATE process, in order to exercise their franchise during the pending Senatorial Election. The need to address all these issues in a timely manner prior to the conduct of the Senatorial Election in December 2020 has made the VOTERS ROLL UPDATE EXERCISE A NATIONAL IMPERATIVE of utmost urgency. We maintain that the current NEC and no NEC in the world can achieve all of the above in two weeks and through a MOBILE exercise during the raining season.
We are equally concerned about the following:
According to circulars from you, the NEC will carry out a Voters Roll Update (VRU) from September 11 – 25, 2020. During this process, “about 500 or more
Voter Roll Update Teams will move across the country, at three-day intervals, from Voter Registration center to Voter Registration Center, covering more than 2080 Centers”. “Each Team will comprise a Registrar, Clerk, Shader, and Photographer. Each Team will cover a maximum of four Centers.”
Although the CPP recognizes and demands the right of every Liberian citizen of voting age to register and vote, without discrimination, the CPP however believes and suspects that your proposed methods opens a floodgate for double and triple registration, voters’ cards padding and accumulation by powerful and wealthy candidates, for distribution to illegally imported voters. These loopholes will ultimately result to double registration, and registration by people who may not even be Liberians.
As you know, Section 3.1 of the New Elections Law of Liberia requires any VRU process to register an eligible Liberian citizen upon a proof of:
- Production of a valid Liberian passport;
- Production of a birth certificate and, where applicable, evidence of renunciation of a second nationality, proving that the applicant is a Liberian citizen;
- Production of an original or certified copy of a certificate of naturalization;
- Sworn statements by two other registered voters, who shall appear in person before the appropriate elections officer, confirming that the applicant is a Liberian Citizen.
- Confirmation by a Liberian traditional leader, who shall appear in person before the appropriate elections officer, that the applicant is a Liberian citizen.
The CPP believes first, that the potentially massive scale and expected huge turn-out of the pending VRU process will be fraudulently abused, where some individuals with Liberian passports, birth certificates, nationalization certificate or National IDs will double register. Second, the process of sworn statements by two other registered voters, and confirmation by a Liberian traditional leader, will
be fraudulently abused and some individuals will criminally facilitate multiple registrations.
The CPP therefore requests detailed information from the NEC on the criteria that will be used to prevent multiple registration.
- Voters Roll Clean-up exercise
As you are aware, it has been acknowledged publicly that the 2017 Final Registration Roll (FRR), also known as Voters Roll (VR), is plagued with several irregularities. On account of irregularities, the Supreme Court of Liberia in 2017, in the case National Elections Commission of Liberia versus. Charles Walker Brumskine et all, mandated the National Elections Commission to “conduct a full clean-up of the FRR to ensure that multiple names of identification numbers are removed therefrom” … in consultation with and information to political parties…”
Consequently, the 54th National Legislature in a Joint Resolution on June 5, 2020 further mandated that “a clean-up process of the 2017 FRR shall be conducted by the NEC with the involvement of political parties….”. The Resolution also mandated the NEC to employ the “services of technicians from Political Parties for the cleaning up of the 2017 FRR…”
As a result, a team of technicians was seconded to the NEC by the CPP to participate and be involved in a full clean-up process of the 20177 FRR. The technicians have informed CPP that the NEC has provided contradictory accounts about the status of the clean-up exercise, and that the technicians have not been allowed to participate in any clean-up process of the FRR. For example, the technicians reported that the NEC, during one meeting four weeks ago, took them on a facility tour of the NEC Data Center, and told the technicians that the clean-up exercise of the FRR will be conducted exclusively by NEC; and that any technician discovering discrepancy through individual scrutiny of the FRR should report it to the NEC. The CPP believes this mode of operation attributed to the NEC is contrary to the mandates of the Supreme Court and the National
Legislature, which require that a full clean-up must be conducted with the participation and involvement of political parties.
Furthermore, the technicians reported to the CPP that in another meeting about two weeks ago, the NEC informed them that the NEC conducted a “full-clean-up” of the 2017 FRR before the June 5, 2020 Joint Resolution of the National Legislature.
The CPP requests the NEC to confirm or deny: 1. Whether or not, a full clean-up of the 2017 has been conducted as mandated by the Supreme Court and the National Legislature; 2. whether or not, the NEC, in the first instance, informed CPP technicians that the clean-up exercise would be conducted exclusively by NEC, and requested the CPP technicians to conduct individual review of the FRR, and report any discrepancy; 3. whether or not the NEC, in the second instance, informed CPP technicians that the full clean-up of the FRR was conducted by the NEC prior to the Joint Resolution.
In the event you respond that a full clean-up of the FRR has already been conducted, the CPP requests detailed information on the dates said exercise was conducted, who conducted it, and whether or not political parties participated?
In the event you respond that a full clean-up of the FRR has not been conducted, the CPP still requests information on when you intend to conduct a full-lean-up; and further requests additional information on how you intend to carry out the exercise, and advise us on how the CPP, through its technicians, can participate in an open, clear and transparent clean-up exercise of the FRR. The CPP requests full and unhindered participation and involvement in the full clean-up of the roll as mandated by the Supreme Court and the Legislature.
- Preparation for the conduct of Elections
On May 7, 2020 (five months to the holding of the October 13th 2020 Senatorial Elections), the NEC wrote and informed the President of Liberia that due to inadequate preparations for the elections and referendum, it was not possible to conduct the Senatorial Elections and Referendum on October 13, 2020, and therefore requested postponement of the elections to a new date. Based on your
letter, the President requested, and postponement was granted by the National Legislature, to move the Senatorial Elections date to December 8, 2020. The basic point of your request for postponement was that 5 months 7 days was inadequate time to carry out any meaningful preparations for conduct of elections.
The CPP observes however, that although we are left with barely 3 months to the conduct of the December 8, 2020 election, no meaningful preparations have been undertaken by the NEC for the conduct of said elections.
The CPP seeks clarification from the NEC about the following:
- What preparations, if any, has the NEC made to support the conclusion that credible elections, short of haphazard arrangements, will be conducted?
- Why the NEC was unable to undertake preparations for elections in five (5) months but now believes that three (3) months will now be adequate to undertake the same preparations?
- Has the Government provided any funding to the NEC for the conduct of the December 2020 election?
- How much of the funding required for the December 2020 elections has not yet been provided to the NEC by the Government?
- Monthly Reporting to the Legislature on Progress Towards Conduct of the Elections.
The Joint Resolution of the Senate herein mentioned, also mandated the NEC to give a written progress report every thirty (30) days to the Legislature so that all problems faced by the NEC will be promptly resolved and that the Senatorial Elections and Referendum will be held on December 8, 2020.
The CPP seeks answers from the NEC about the following:
- Has the NEC submitted any or all required reports to the Legislature?
- If the NEC has not submitted any of the required reports to the Legislature, can the NEC provide an explanation as to why the NEC has failed to report to the Legislature as required by the Joint Resolution?
The CPP requests copies of your reports to the Legislature for the past three months.
Last, while we await detailed information to our inquiries, we hereby follow up on our letter of September 6, 2020 requesting for the entire copies of the 2017 FRR; and we also hereby request for all Source Documents to the FRR in the possession of the NEC.
Discovered Difficulties with ongoing VRU
As we rightly warned against above, we have just received credible reports this morning that the ongoing VRU is being manipulated by NEC field staff. For example, we have been informed that the schedule of movement and registration centers have been changed, and those waiting to be registered based on the official scheduled previously provided to political parties by NEC cannot locate the whereabouts of NEC staff conducting the registration. This has affected the entire Grand Cape Mount County and District 2 in Montserrado County. We demand that NEC openly corrects this manipulation. Additionally, we have been informed that registration will not commence today in Maryland County due to the absence of cameras by NEC mobile teams. Four other rural counties have reported that NEC teams have not arrived up to now. We believe this may these happenings may be taking pace in other counties and districts throughout the county. CPP maintains that the MOBILE REGISTRATION process unilaterally decided by NEC in collusion with the CDC-led government is problematically not credible is a flawed process intended to legitimize rigging of the elections on December 8, 2020.
As a matter of urgency and transparency, it is imperative that regular consultations between the Political Parties and the NEC are sustained without let. Such consultations shall relate to major electoral issues impacting the peace and stability of our Country; emerging issues relative to the capacity and preparedness of NEC to conduct free, fair, transparent and credible elections; emerging issues of political parties’ perceptions and observations of the evolving level playing field for all players; and the continuing trustworthiness of the referee(s) under the
established rules of the game. It is this essential need of building and sustaining a mutually respectable and professional relationship that engendered the IPCC (Inter-Party Consultative Committee) mechanism in the first place and that has, since 2005, greatly assisted in reducing suspicions of mistrust between the NEC and the Political Parties.
The Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) hereby calls for a SPECIAL SESSION of the INTER-PARTY CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE (IPCC) to deliberate and decide on the methodology to be used, the duration and the date of the VOTERS ROLL UPDATE EXERCISE.
As we look forward to your prompt response in order to facilitate our working collectively together for the timely and credible conduct of the pending SPECIAL SENATORIAL ELECTION IN DECEMBER 2020 to avoid a CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS come January, 2021, we remain patriotically yours,
Yours truly,
Aloysius Toe
Secretary General
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