Call for security at VR centers

The absence of police and immigration officers at various voter registration centers across the country has sparked concern among Liberians turning out to register for the 10th October presidential and legislative elections amid reports of aliens trying to infiltrate the process.

The 2017 voter registration is the only process where security forces especially, police and immigration are conspicuously absent. The essence of security presence at registration and polling places is to ensure that only Liberians are allowed to register and not foreigners.

The Constitutional of Liberia states that only a Liberian citizen has the right to participate in national and local elections. Several political pundits interviewed by this paper have expressed disappointment that the National Elections Commission is conducting voter registration process in the absence of national security officers.
The presence of the national security officers is to also ensure that workers of the National Elections Commission (NEC) and eligible voters don’t get into confusion during the process.
It is also intended to prevent individuals wanting to register at more than one centers.

As the situation stands, it is difficult to know whether all those registering at various NEC registration centers are Liberian citizens especially, in the wake of reports that some contestant are bringing aliens into the country to have them registered in order to participate in the elections, in complete violation of the election laws.

By Emmanuel Mondaye-Editing by Jonathan Browne