Speeches

Voter Registration Launch

By Ambassador Thomas N. Hull

February 24, 2007

Victoria Park, Freetown

Contact: PAO

National Electoral Commission Chair, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:

July 28^th is not far away.  If you want to make your mark on Election Day, if you want to use the ballot box to exercise your right as a citizen of Sierra Leone to express your political preference, you must register to vote now!  If you do not register, you will be standing on the sidelines on Election Day watching your friends and neighbors as they support democracy at polling stations around the country.

Everyone who is eligible to register should register.  Do not let anyone intimidate you from registering!  Sierra Leone needs as many men and women, including the disabled, to participate as possible.

The world will watch Sierra Leone’s electoral process for progress in democracy building.  Other democracies, including my country, the United States of America, will observe the openness of your registration, the freedom of your campaigns, the turnout of voters, and the transparency of the ballot counting.  If the numbers of voters are low because you did not register to vote, you will not only have lost an opportunity to express yourself politically, but Sierra Leone’s reputation as a democracy will be diminished.

Registering and voting are only two aspects of this election.  Exercise your civic responsibility by working on behalf of the candidates who you want to have elected.  At the same time, I want to urge you to think for yourselves.  Do not let other people tell you who to support or who to vote for.  Democracy only works if each one of you votes for the candidates whom you believe will best represent you and the country.

This requires political tolerance by the supporters of political parties, by traditional rulers, by the youth, and by the population in general.  Political intolerance, such as we saw in Kamakwie last week, is unacceptable because it leads to political violence.   During the coming electoral campaign there must be a level playing field for all parties to present their views to people everywhere in the country.  If the political party leaders do not restrain their followers, if political intimidation is not rejected, democracy and the electoral process will be compromised.   Sierra Leone has seen enough violence.  Do not make this election the cause for more suffering.

As you all know, democracy is government of the people, by the people, and for the people.  You are the people.  So, make democracy work for you by registering today and then making your mark on Election Day.  You also need to remind your family and friends that registering and voting are civic responsibilities.  Sierra Leone’s future depends on everyone’s participation. In conclusion, I thank you for being here today to celebrate the launch of voter registration.  The American Embassy, through USAID electoral support to the National Democratic Institute, is proud to be a sponsor of this rally by the National Electoral Commission.