BY MARILYN KING (232news.com)
The National Council for Civic Education and Democracy (NaCCED) in partnership with the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IIDEA) and National Commission for Democracy (NCD) on Monday 19th June 2023 held a National Stakeholders Dialogue on proportional representation system; peace and reconciliation, at the New Brookfield Hotel in Freetown.
The theme of the dialogue: “Understanding the Proportional Representation System for Peaceful Elections.”
The Head of Programme of IIDEA, Dr. Idrissa Tarawalie, said that on the 8th of June 2023 they were together on high panel conversations about electoral preparedness.
He continued that the focus of the gathering was to bring together all critical stakeholders working in the electoral space. He stated that the two state Institutions which are NaCCED and NCD have the mandate to promote democracy and also promote civic engagement and civic education. He said NaCCED and NCD can seat together and plan.
The Commissioner for Western Region of NCD, Benjamin Macfoy commended the efforts of the organizers and sponsors for bringing the NCD perspective on the 2023 electoral cycle and the key activities rolled out so far, including the NCD perspective on the PR system, peace and reconciliation and also for providing encouragement for credible, fair, free peaceful and transparent elections in the 2023 electoral cycle.
The Chief of Staff of Office of National Security (ONS), Langumba Keili, said elections are a hallmark of good governance and contribute immensely to building a nation’s democratic credentials. He said it presupposes that there should be a landscape free from fear, apprehension and insecurity for citizens and relevant stakeholders including political parties, Election Management Bodies and Observers to participate.
The Chairman of NaCCED, Kalilu Totangi, said when they started the work with IIDEA with support from EU what they did was to do a perception survey, with IGR. He furthered that they found out on the survey that only 41% of Sierra Leoneans knew how the PR System works.
He stated that they have trained three thousand young people in all of the regions in support from IIDEA and UNDP.
He said they want people to have knowledge and understanding of the voting issues. He said they have put together three set of animation which are the issues around participation and voting, so that people will take their time to vote so that they can reduce the number of void vote.
He also said the other animation is the issue around violence when people go to the poll and wear a party colours, and they have made the education variable on social media and TV stations. He said they have also looked on the PR which is also on TV stations.
