The current biometric voter registration will not be extended in the phase one counties of Montserrado, Grand Bassa, Grand Cape Mount, Margibi, Bomi, and Gbarpolu, according to the National Elections Commission (NEC). According to the chairperson Davidetta Browne Lansannah, the contract expiration date of April 17, 2023, for temporary BVR employees in no way implies that voter registration in the phase one areas will continue past April 9, 2023.
At a spur-of-the-moment press conference conducted over the weekend at the NEC headquarters in Monrovia, Madam Lansanah revealed the information. The contract, according to her, is a standard one that runs from 18 March 2023 to 17 April 2023 and will under no circumstances be extended. The eight days between April 9 and April 17, according to the NEC Chairperson, will be used for the temporary BVR staff to assemble reports, retrieve materials and equipment that have been dispatched to the field, and process employee payments.
“Let me reiterate that the BVR in Phase One ends on 9 April 2023 and there will be no extension.”
She urged Liberians 18 years of age and older to utilize the final nine days to finish their registration and gave the assurance that more voter cards would be distributed at registration centers to guarantee that all eligible voters registered. There is no need for eligible voters in the phase one counties to panic, according to the chairperson Browne Lansannah; those who appear at the registration sites within the allotted time will be registered. Antoinette Yancy, a temporary employee of NEC who worked as the registrar at the Namuwa English and Arabic School in District #10, had her employment ended due to conduct that was detrimental to her employment with BVR.
After an inquiry revealed she had engaged in actions that could have damaged the commission’s credibility and integrity, Ms. Yancy was fired. In response to a question at the press conference, Madam Brown made it obvious that a stranger rule will be necessary to stop voters from trucking during the country’s presidential and legislative elections. The NEC Chairperson stated that the problem with voter trucks is an old-age problem and a violation of the election laws, but the commission is collaborating with combined security to address this threat.
She claims that there are only a few days remaining for Liberians who are 18 years of age or older to register for the six of the 15 sub-political divisions’ initial biometric voter registration process.
