The National Elections Commission will today, Monday, March 20, 2023 begin the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) exercise in six counties: Bomi, Grand Cape Mount, Grand Bassa, Gbarpolu, Margibi and Montserrado, marking the start of phase one of the BVR process, which is expected to end on April 9, 2023.
According to the Chairperson of the NEC, Cllr. Davidetta Browne Lansanah, registration centers will open at 8:00 a.m. and close at 5:00 p.m. from Monday to Sunday, for a period of twenty-one consecutive days. she said NEC will open all the 1,065 voter registration centers in phase one.
Phase two of the BVR exercise is expected to begin on April 21, 2023 and end on May 11, 2023, and covers the remaining nine counties: Bong, Lofa, Nimba, Grand Gedeh, River Gee, Maryland, Sinoe, Grand Kru and Rivercess, with NEC opening all the 1,015 voter registration centers within these counties.
As a way of easing the process, the NEC has introduced an optional registration platform on www.reg.necliberia.org for individuals with smart phones or laptops to fill in their personal data entry form online and proceed to the nearby voter registration center to complete the process.
Calls for the electorate to take advantage of the BVR process have been re-echoed by many stakeholders, including civil society groups, political parties and prominent individuals.
President George Manneh Weah has called on all citizens to take advantage of the voter registration exercise. He said, “Voter registration is the only legitimate medium that enables citizens to vote in the legislative and presidential elections in October this year.”
Also, the National Civil Society Council of Liberia (NCSCL), headed Loretta Alethea Pope-Kai, has emphasized the need for all eligible Liberians to rise up to the occasion and get registered during the voter registration process. She said, “Owing to the critical importance of political participation to the growth and development of the country, eligible Liberian voters should take up the responsibility to form part of the ensuing political process.”
However, others have argued that the NEC needed to conduct constituency demarcation after the conduct of the National Housing and Population Census before proceeding to hold voter registration exercise.
In a release issued over the weekend, the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) detested that the NEC is proceeding wrongly, and petitioned the Supreme Court to compel the NEC to proceed to conduct the processes of the elections according to the mandate of the Constitution.