MONROVIA – Against the backdrop of series of concerns being raised by stakeholders about political parties being involved in pre-election campaigns, the National Elections Commission (NEC) has reminded political parties, coalitions, alliances, and independent aspirants that the campaign period for the 2023 General Elections is from 5 August to 8 October and that any other activities in the form of pre-election campaign is a violation. The Commission warns that when there is a violation of its revised Regulations and Procedures, through verbal expressions or symbolic speeches, it will apply the appropriate sanction, including a fine of up to US$5,000.00 or its Liberian Dollar equivalent as stipulated in Chapter 11.
According to a press statement issued from the commission and signed by Prince Dunbar, Deputy Communications Director, the electoral umpire made this known yesterday, Tuesday, February 7, 2023 when the Chairperson, Mrs. Davidetta Brown-Lassanah spoke at the launching of the 2023 Biometric Voter Registration (BVR), Bi-Monthly Briefing Session where she also clarified that an aspirant only becomes a candidate to contest in the pending elections after being qualified during the Candidate Nomination Period.
The statement also said Madam Browne Lansanah urged all political actors and stakeholders to continue promoting non-violent engagements and urged the public to take advantage of existing legal channels in addressing grievances.
She announced that NEC received US$14,225.000.00 (Fourteen Million, Two Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand United States Dollars) of the US$18.37 Million US Dollars allotted by the Government. NEC, she said, is in discussion with the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning on the remaining US$4,150.000.00 (Four Million, One Hundred Fifty Thousand US Dollars) to support the contractual arrangements with Laxton Group.
The NEC statement released on Tuesday said, she informed that Laxton Group, the vendor procuring the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) equipment and software and will support NEC in its implementation, has been working closely with NEC/UNDP Technical Teams to ensure that the voter registration software is fully built to function for the BVR exercise. She said Laxton has been in the country for several months and has conducted first and second-level testing of the software.
“Out-station testing of BVR equipment and software was conducted on January 25, at Division 16, Firestone, to ensure that capturing of fingerprints for manual laborers will not be difficult during full implementation,” Chair Browne-Lansanah said.
Madam Browne Lansanah also thanked the Government, international partners, and the Liberian people for supporting NEC.
Comments are closed.