The Coordinator of the 2020 Constitutional National Referendum at the National Elections Commission (NEC) says final preparations leading to the unveiling ceremony of Symbols for the conduct of the National Referendum, slated for December 8, 2020 in Liberia have been concluded.
NEC’s Referendum Coordinator, J. Jappah Nah, said the first in a series of two separate week-long unveiling program takes place in Ganta City, Nimba County, from Monday, October 5, 2020 to Wednesday, October 7, 2020 with the involvement of 120 Liberians from Grand Gedeh, Bong, Lofa and host Nimba counties. “The theme of the stakeholders meeting on the national referendum symbols is, ‘Bringing Referendum to the People’,” Nah said.
According to Nah, on Monday, 40 traditional leaders from the four counties will gather to deliberate on the symbols, while on Tuesday anther 40 participants consisting of local government authorities will brainstorm on the need for the symbols, to be followed on the closing day with the third in a series of 40 participants, to include district commissioners, who will make their input on the referendum symbols.
According to J. Jappah Nah, the second in the series of unveiling program takes place in Buchanan City, Grand Bassa County, beginning Monday, October 12, 2020 and ending on October 14, 2020 with another 120 participants. He said the Buchanan unveiling ceremony will begin with 40 representatives of registered political parties in Liberia on that Monday. Another 40 representatives from civil society groups, including faith-based organizations (FBOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs) will form a part of the program on Tuesday, October 13, 2020. The NEC referendum Coordinator said to climax the unveiling ceremony on Wednesday will be another 40 participants, consisting of representatives of local and national media institutions from across Liberia.
The NEC Coordinator for the 2020 referendum maintained that after the unveiling of the symbols for the conduct of the December 8, 2020 election, a massive civic and voter education awareness and distribution of symbols will be implemented to impact the 15 counties throughout Liberia.