BALLOT From page 18 to be party activists were dismissed in the chairperson's attempt to come up with a truly independent and professional team that would ensure the elections are credible and acceptable . Furthermore, in its endeavour to “get everybody into the process,” NEC created a platform through which political parties interacted with it to input suggestions and recommendations for electoral reform that were in tandem with its goal of ensuring a credible free and fair election. Consequently, NEC supervised the establishment of the Political Party Liaison Committees (PPLC) at national and district levels to register, regulate, monitoring adherence to the code of conduct and mediate disputes among political parties. In addition, it provides political parties with opportunities to request additional information and challenge NEC's decisions on various aspects of the electoral process. News X voters, 35 domestic organisations and 5400 local observers were deployed to observe the election covering 87 percent of the polling stations open on Election Day. The same observers were also accredited to observe the voter registration and delineation of boundaries exercises. It is our submission that our own electoral management body could learn from Sierra Leone the importance of having total figures of people eligible to vote in the country and Issue No. 2 September 2007 credibility as an exercise that sought to ensure everyone eligible to vote was registered. However, in our case, it is very difficult to appreciate the 45 000 voters registered so far in the on-going mobile voter registration exercise as a milestone in ensuring popular participation in the electoral process. According to ZEC (Herald 13 August 2007), the 45 000 registered is a significant number but one would question its significance vis-à-vis the unknown total number of people eligible to vote who were targeted by the exercise. Despite the logistical challenges the political campaigns were visible and vigorous. ZESN officials were impressed by the scheduling of campaign activities for different political parties on different days to reduce political clashes and tensions. They did not witness incidences of violence. Furthermore no campaigns were observed after the 24 hours deadline before Election Day. Neither was there any campaigning noted on Election Day. Everyone has a role to play: Men and Women The process of voter registration that NEC embarked on was another major stride towards ensuring that a lot of people participated in the election process. According to the European Union Observer Mission (EU OM) about 2 619 565 people registered to vote. This is 91 percent of the total number of people eligible to vote in the country. Apart from people participating as making them public so that when they announce the percentage number of people registered in the voter registration exercise, people would have a benchmark on which to refer to. That the 2.6 million registered to vote in the Sierra Leone election constitute 91 percent of the total number of people eligible to vote gives the voter registration exercise 19 In order for an election to be credible, it is key that there is constant communication between the electorate and the electoral management body through different media available in the country. In Sierra Leone, that communication was always available. Continued on page 20 X