“No campaigning before nomination” – Christiana Thorpe warns

Freetown, June (SLENA) – The Chief Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Christiana Thorpe (in photo) has warned aspirants for the November 17 elections that they shall be disqualified for the contest if they were found campaigning when nominations have not yet been declared.

Madam Thorpe gave this warning while presenting an update on the Biometric Voter Registration De-duplication process that was held in Brussels, Belgium.

Explaining the difference between campaigning and sensitization, the NEC chairperson said the latter is an ongoing process, seeking to pass on information to enhance knowledge and understanding of a process whereas for one to start a campaign process one has to observe NEC’s electoral guidelines.

“We can disqualify a candidate on grounds of violating our laws, because if you want to lead people you should first obey the laws,” Madam Thorpe warned, and referred to other stakeholder groups, such as the PPRC, NDC and the Human Right Commission who also observe the conduct of political parties and their aspirants.

“From these groups NEC will know who and who are violating our guidelines, so when you come before us for nomination, NEC will simply disqualify your candidature because you don’t obey laws,” she reiterated, referring to the spate of lawlessness in society today.

IK/SLENA

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