Cllr. Jerome Kokoyah Chairman of the National Election Commission National Elections Commission 8th Street, Sinkor Monrovia, Liberia March 11, 2014 Dear Mr. Chairman: I am pleased to present my compliments and congratulate your leadership at the National Elections Commission {NEC}. I also thank the NEC on the ongoing Voters Roll Update exercises across the country. I write to request your commission to embark on the process of the VRD exercises to all prisons and/or correctional facilities in the country for pre-trial detainees. According to the Bureau of Correction and Rehabilitation at the Ministry of Justice, approximately eighty percent of the country’s estimated 1827 inmates are pre-trial detainees. This communication stems from the backdrop of a robust survey conducted by the Center for Counseling and Restorative Dialogue on detainees’ electoral participation. The revelation of the assessment relates to the provision of the Constitution of Liberia Article 80 {b} which states every Liberian citizen shall have the right to be registered in a constituency, and to vote in public election only in the constituency where registered, either in person or by absentee ballot; provided that such citizen shall have the right to change his voting constituency and may be prescribed by the Legislature. The Center for Counseling and Restorative Dialogue would admonish the National Election Commission to make reference to the New Election Law of 1986 in Chapter 5.1 Who May Vote: states that except one who has been judicially declared to be incompetent or of unsound mind, or who has been barred from voting as a result of his/her conviction and imprisonment for an infamous crime which disenfranchised him as a voter and has been restored to full citizenship, a Liberian citizen who has attained the age of 18 years or above with a valid registration card may vote at any election in the voting precinct of electoral district for which he/she is registered. However, pre-trial detainees are not convicted under law. Please establish VRD centers in those prisons for the realization NEC’s constitutional mandate. Best regards, Ali Sylla Executive Director Center for Counseling and Restorative Dialogue King Sao Bosso Street Monrovia, Liberia +231886274694 / +231776894218 Alisylla2010@gmail
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 05:49:43 +0000
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