Electoral Preparations.pdf - National Elections Commission

Republic of LiberiaNational Elections Commission (NEC)ELECTORAL PREPARATIONSFACT SHEETFinal preparations for the polling October 11, 2011 are on course. The National ElectionsCommission has bankrolled production of election materials, recruitment of polling staff andtraining and logistical arrangement.Election Materials• The ballot papers for the Senate printed in Ghana arrived in the country on September13, 2011.• The ballot papers for the House of Representatives printed in South Africa arrived in thecountry on September 28, 2011.• The Presidential ballot papers also printed in Ghana arrived in the country onSeptember 18, 2011.• The ballot papers are in a secure storage under the protection of Liberia National Policeuntil preparations are finalized to have them deployed to the 4,457 polling placesspread across the 1,780 polling precincts in the country.• The Commission has also received non-sensitive materials for the 2011 elections. Thesematerials include ballot boxes, indelible ink etc.Distribution of Election MaterialsPackaging of polling materials including ballot papers has been done and distribution of suchmaterials began on September 23, and will end on October 10, 2011. The materials will bedistributed to all the 4,457 polling places spread across the country.The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is hiring 86 trucks, 298 pick-ups, 194motorbikes, 132 canoes and 1,944 porters to help ferry electoral materials to various pollingplaces across the country. The porters will be used across the country to convey electoralmaterials to centers that are not accessible by vehicles while the canoes will be used to getmaterial across rivers and along the sea coast. Additionally, the NEC is providing 9 trucks; 46pick-ups and 76 motorbikes to help in the retrieval of electoral materials.Staff Recruitment and TrainingThe Commission has hired over 60 casual labors to package the election materials.Training of Trainers (TOT) for representatives of political parties’ agents was conducted onSeptember 14 and 15, 2011. Topics for training included rules for opening of polls, pollingprocess, counting of the votes and how the polls will close.

From September 16 up to October 9, 2011 there was a series of Training of Trainers (TOT)courses for Electoral Supervising Officers, Magisterial staff, Electoral Supervisors, PollingCenters Staff, Presiding Officers, Voters Identification Officers. The trained personnel will trainothers such as Inkers, Ballot Paper Issuers, Queue Controllers, Ballot Paper Issuers, Ballot boxControllers among others.The table below outlines the training program:Date Training Activity Participants Summary of trainingSept 14 – 15, 2011Sept 16-17, 2011TOT for agents of politicalpartiesHq electoral SupervisingOfficers (ESOs )TrainingRepresentativespolitical parties.Sept 19-21, 2011 TOT for Magisterial staff Magistrates, AssistantMagistrates & CountyCoordinatorsSept 26-28, 2011 Training of Electoral Electoral SupervisorsSupervisorsacross the country.Oct 2-4, 5-7, 2011Oct 8-9, 2011Training of Polling CentrestaffRules for Inkers, BPI, QCs,BBCs etc.of• Duties of partyagents.• Overview ofopening, pollingprocess, counting.• Overview of closingpolls.Central office personnel. • Responsibilitiesassociated withmonitoring.• Standard electionsprocedures• Quality controlmechanisms.Procedures for the conductof tripartite elections.Selected qualified pollingstaffSelected Polling staff.Training techniques andelection procedures.• Electionprocedures.• Rules for PresidingOfficers (Pos) &Voter IdentificationOfficers (VIOs).The role of the Polling Staff.Public OutreachTo intensify civic/voter education, the Commission has adopted a ‘Three Front’ CVE plan for theelections. These include: (I) Media publicity; (II) Printed materials and (III) Outreach.Under the media publicity front, the Commission has produced two elections videos, four setsof drama and jingles depicting CVE messages that teach the voters the voting steps and how tomark the ballot papers and a motivational video aimed at encouraging people to turn out andvote on Election Day. The Public Information Section will be organizing press interviews for NECelection technicians to provide insight on various electoral events on the radio and television.

On the second front, the Commission has hired the services of about eight Liberian printinghouses to help in the production of CVE banners, stickers, bill boards, CVE manuals as well asother paraphernalia intended to educate the registered voters on the elections.On the third CVE front, the Commission, in collaboration with partners, has recruitedCommunity Based and Civil Society Organizations (CBOs) to help in the delivery of asynchronized CVE content delivery. To this end, the International Foundation for ElectoralSystems (IFES) has recruited 19 CSOs; the Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS) has recruited 8 CSOs; the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) hasrecruited 17 CSOs while the National Democratic Institute (NDI) has also hired the services of 5CSOs to carry out civic education across the country. These organizations and 150 CivicEducators are now spread across the country delivering CVE messages. The UNMIL outreachsection has also offered to reproduce CVE jingles and drama and translate them into variousvernaculars which will be aired on all community radios under the Association of LiberianCommunity Radio (ALICOR).Some radio/TV stations have started running candidate debates. To compliment this effort theNational Democratic Institute (NDI) and the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) will be organizingsenatorial and presidential debates respectively before the Election Day.Information TechnologyWith assistance from the International Foundation for Electoral Systems the Commission’s ITsection has installed V-SAT connectivity in 19 elections magisterial areas that will ensure thespeedy transfer of results from the voting centers to the NEC Headquarters.SecuritySecurity arrangements for the elections are being coordinated with the Liberian National Police(LNP), the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (BIN) and the UNMIL security unit.The Liberia Red Cross will be part of the security arrangement to provide emergency attentionto polling staff and voters in case of any mishaps or accidents.The NEC also acknowledges the laudable contributions of other partners including UNDP, IFES,ECOWAS and friendly nations as well as well-wishers. Deployment of security personnel tovarious polling centers throughout the country has already begun.