IEC on election administration training

As part of its endeavours to engender a more democratic electoral process in the country, the Independence Electoral Commission (IEC), yesterday began the second phase of its ongoing training of stakeholders on basic election administration, at the Kairaba Beach Hotel.

The training, supported by the UNDP Basket Fund, is geared towards building the capacity of stakeholders on the logic, principles and programmes of election administration, and is in line with the commission’s foundation pillars "integrity, fair play and transparency."

Introducing participants to the course, Robert Anthony Secka, chief electoral officer, remarked that the training seeks to enlighten stakeholders on the whole electoral process so that collectively we can all work together to achieving a democratic electoral process. "Unless we, the stakeholders, are fully aware of the manner in which elections are held, we will continue knocking heads as to the outcomes," he noted. He also called on the participants to participate effectively during sessions.

During the course of the two weeks, participants will be introduced to the country’s political and electoral systems, political and electoral processes, demarcation of constituencies, voter registration and polling station structure, common tasks in election administration and a host of other issues.

Yesterday’s session was preliminarily punctuated by a presentation on the biometric system of voter registration by L1 Company. The company is among the seven (7) firms invited earlier by the commission to present on the subject matter, with a view to possibly contracting them.