The Executive Director of the Center for Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding (CECPAP), Charles Crawford, has stressed the need for Liberians to resist the acts of voter trucking and electoral violence during this period of the biometric voter registration (BVR) in Liberia.
Mr. Crawford intimated that the acts of electoral violence and voter trucking are undemocratic that should be condemned, rejected, and discouraged by all Liberians. He urged his fellow compatriots to act swiftly in curbing such ugly acts when they see it happening in their communities.
The CECPAP boss further called on the National Elections Commission (NEC) to be proactive in instituting measures, such as the imposition of harsh penalties against anyone that breaks electoral laws of the Republic of Liberia, regardless of his or her political connection or status in the Liberian society.
The act of voter trucking, according to Mr. Crawford, does not only contravene electoral laws of Liberia, but it disenfranchises voters from fully participating in the political decision-making process of their communities, “the act of voter trucking should have no place in this coming presidential and general elections.”
The conflict resolution specialist took a retrospective look at the 2021 electoral violence in Grand Cape Mount County and other parts of Liberia and the voter trucking that occurred in Bomi County by senatorial candidates, noting that that these antidemocratic behaviors should not be repeated in this general and presidential elections as they do not augur well for Liberia’s emerging democracy.
The CECPAP boss spoke over the weekend in Gbarnga, Bong County, at the opening of cluster two training of trainers (TOT) workshop organized and facilitated by CECPAP with funding provided by the UN Peacebuilding Fund. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is supervising the implementation of the workshop.
The training session is being held under the theme: Promoting Peaceful Electoral Environment and Community Security in Liberia. The workshop sought to build capacity development for joint security actors, local authorities, women, and youth groups to reinforce peace corridors in identified hotspot areas including boarder communities to respond to risk associated with potential issues arising from voter trucking.