By Tommy Sogbandi.
Barely few days to the general elections, the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL) has given voters register to political parties, which was found to be fundamentally flawed.
The ECSL is mandated to release the aggregated voter register to all political parties six months to elections.
The Public Elections Act 2022 emphasises that the voter register shall contain the names and particulars of persons certified to vote in public elections and referenda to include their identification number, dates and places of birth, sex, and a column to indicate whether or not the voter in question voted on the day of election.
The main opposition party, the APC has confirmed the withdrawal of the disk containing the disaggregated voter register suggesting that it contains discrepancies in records of voters, which to them has the proclivity of undermining the credibility of the data and the outcome of the June 24 polls.
“It is incumbent on the ECSL to judiciously comply with the Public Elections Act to ensure the credibility of the voter register and the election outcome, ” says a senior. APC party official.
This latest development and snail pace attitude of the ECSL in responding to public outcries increases fears over the competence and credibility of the ECSL two conduct free fair and transparent elections on June 24, 2023.
