-As Chairman Alfred Sieh Vows to Make Sure That Diaspora Liberians Can Vote Where They Are

IPNEWS: Liberians residing abroad have begun lobbying that they are allowed to vote in the upcoming Presidential and Legislative Elections from their places of residence around the world.

Liberians are expected to go to the polls in October 2023 to elect a president and members of the Legislature.

This new campaign comes a few weeks following the signing into law by President George Manneh Weah, the new Dual Citizenship bill, which grants certain rights and privileges. This newspaper doesn’t yet know if the right or privilege to vote outside of Liberia is not enshrined in the new law that the President approved by affixing his signature to it on July 22, 2022. It was printed into a handbill by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on July 25, 2022, thus officially making it a law of the land.

Both chambers of the Legislature passed the bill on July 19, 2022.

The new campaign, which is now going to be championed by the Exploratory Committee on Out-of-Country Voting Chairman, Mr. Alfred Sieh, is under the auspices of the All-Liberian Conference on Dual Citizenship (ALCOD), including The Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas (ULAA), European Federation of Liberian Associations (EFLA), Liberian Advocacy for Change (LAFC), Federation of Liberia Communities in Australia (FOLICA), United Liberian Association of Ghana (ULAG), Liberian Association of Canada (LAC), and Conference of Liberian Organizations in Southwestern United States of America (COLOSUS). ALCOD represents over 500,000 Liberians living in the diaspora.

Speaking about his role on this new campaign, Mr. Sieh, who is the Board Chair of ULAA and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Federation of Liberian Associations in Ohio (FOLAO), said in this new role, he will do all to explore the possibilities of out of country voting for diaspora Liberians, who are of voting ages.

To achieve this, Sieh, who is proprietor of New Direction Health and Support Services LLC in Ohio, and Deacon of New Beginning Pentecostal of Christ Church International, stated that he is going to make his exploratory committee a partner with the Liberian Government to ensure that no Liberian is disenfranchised in the 2023 elections no matter where they live.

“We are advocating for half a million Liberians. We are going to reach out to the people at the National Elections Commission (NEC), folks at the Liberia Institute of Statistics, Geo-Information Services (LISGIS), the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning and the Ministry of Justice,” Sieh said.

According to him, “With these organizations, we should be able to develop a framework to ensure that right infrastructures are put in place and the mechanism for the successful implementation of the elections.”