MONROVIA: The leadership of the Publishers Association of Liberia (PAL) says it is deeply concerned about the reported Voter’s Roll Crisis ahead of the upcoming Press Union of Liberia (PUL) elections.
According to a press statement issued over the weekend, PAL described as unfortunate for the PUL, as watchdog of society, is engulfed in such ugly situation ahead of the national elections in 2023.
The Publishers said the public depends on journalists as watchdogs of society to lead by example, especially at a time the members of the public look up to journalists to expose the ills of elections at the national level.
The PAL therefore urged the leadership of the PUL, the Elections and Membership Committees of the PUL to seriously take note of the prevailing situation ahead of Congress to avoid dark clouds from hanging over the elections.
PAL also calls on those expressing concerns to carefully follow all laid down procedures approaching same with caution.
The PUL elections were deferred from Friday, November 18, 2022, due to the Liberian government‘s declaration of National Holiday for the conduct of the National Housing and Population census.
Apart, other members of the Press Union have been complaining about PUL voter roll being loaded with people who are not qualified to vote. According to some of the complainants, it is unrealistic for the number of journalists in Liberia to be over 1,000.
The protesting journalists are of the view that some of the people listed on the PUL Voters Roll are media workers and not journalists.
