The Liberia Council of the Churches ahead of the 2023 General and Presidential Elections have climaxed a one day Civil and Voter Education training worship at the Secretariat of the LCC in Sinkor.
The training workshop is in continuation of series of such workshops which has been held in Nimba, Bong, Lofa, Margibi and Rivercess counties.
The Director of the Civil Voter Education of the National Election Commission of Liberia (NEC), Mr. Paul N. Wreh-Wilson facilitated the training with focus on “Civic and Voter Education Approach to the 2023 General Elections in Liberia.”
Mr. Wilson noted that amid praises from international and local partners in previous elections terming the election as peaceful, transparent, free and fair, those elections recorded low voters turn out, increasing and alarming invalid and unexplained voter apathy; something the commission and its partners attribute to inadequate civic and voter education.
The NEC through its department of Civil Voter Education has embarked on redesigning new CVE approaches for the upcoming elections.
Mr. Wilson noted as part of the new approaches, the NEC have established CVE-Cells in 81 Electoral Districts in Liberia; accredited 400 Civil Society Organizations (CSO); created CVE external taskforce, CVE accredited National Civil Society Taskforce; including Plans on the establishment of Civic and Voter Education Clubs (CVE-Clubs) in selected Secondary and tertiary institutions targeting first-time and incoming voters, plans to establish CVE focal person at political party offices, plans to engage with First Time Voters and Street Sellers. The NEC CVE director noted that these new approaches will help ensure a balanced transfer of information to the entire voting populace and increase participation during elections, ensure invalid votes are reduced drastically by 60%, and ensure the inclusivity of all citizens irrespective of status, education, sex or tribe.
Meanwhile the General Secretary of the LCC Rev. Christopher Wleh Toe stated that the LCC with support from its partner Bread for the World will for the first time train and deploy 25 persons as monitors for campaign activities across the fifteen political sub-division of Liberia for three months including training and deployment of 300 elections observers for the 2023 general and presidential elections.
