SIERRA LEONE/FILE: Voter registration ends in Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone has completed its voters' registration process in preparation for another round of elections after its brutal civil war ended in 2002. But, electoral officials struggled to get people to register for the polls in July this year prompting calls for an extension of the 3-week registration period. Voter registration in Sierra Leone ended on Sunday (March 18) with the turnout much lower than expected over the 3-week period. The registration is in preparation for presidential and parliamentary elections slated for July 28 this year. As the first major step in the electoral process, the registration exercise is a big challenge for the newly established National Election Council (NEC). "We have been playing our own role by at least encouraging the applicants who come, in order to go and advice their colleagues to register, so if ever people are becoming reluctant to register I don't know, but I think we are giving a helping hand to the National Electoral Commission, (NEC), since this is our own country I feel we all want to get a formidable government come July 28th," said Francis Sei-Vandy an assistant registrar working for the NEC. March 14 was declared a public holiday to give people more time to register. The NEC was expecting more than half the country's population of 5 million people to register. But, early estimates show the NEC is well below its benchmark of 2.75 million people. Opposition parties have called for an extension of the registration timeline. "Well at first it started smoothly people were turning out in good number, but it reached a peak it stopped, they were coming one at a time. Only today - because they have declared today as a public holiday - people are coming in large numbers to register," said Zainab Manasaray an official at one of the registration centres. But some Sierra Leoneans have become frustrated by Kabah's government, saying it has failed to deliver on election promises. "Well to my own opinion after talking to various people I think people are disgruntled about the various politicians who has been heading them. They think they have not done what they should have done for them so they don't take the elections process as anything necessary," said Solomon Hindolo Kassibo another registrar. Incumbent president Tejan Kabbah's government won a landslide victory in the elections held in 2002. It was first time the country had gone to the polls since the end of a ten-year civil war between the government and Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels. Over 50,000 were killed during the conflict. The brutal legacy of the war are the thousands of people who had their limbs hacked off by the rebels. This year's polls will be a test of how far the country has gone in its recovery. Although rich in mineral reserves most people in the battered country live well below the poverty marker of 1 U.S. dollar a day.

ITN Source | March 21, 2007

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