Hargeysa, Somaliland, October 4, 2008 (SL Times) – The National Electoral Commission has launched earlier this week an awareness raising campaign aimed at educating the public on the importance of the upcoming voter registration exercise. The campaign seeks to inform the public about how, when and where to register as well as the exact nature of rules that are applied.

The voter registration is a mandatory exercise which is required to be fulfilled before the next presidential election which is set to take place in March 2009.

In the last several months the NEC has been busy trying to put in place the necessary technical and administrative infrastructure for the implementation of the voter registration program.

The NEC has recently mobilized the Somaliland media and the local NGOs sector to carryout the preliminary task of educating the public on the registration drive that will soon be conducted throughout the country.

According to the law all Somaliland citizens at the age of 16 and above can vote and hence are deemed eligible to register for voting.

Over 900 registration stations will be established at rural and urban centers across the country with each one of them to be manned by NEC officers assisted by representatives of the ministry of Interior, the regional court of appeals and the 3 political parties.

The staff from the ministry of Interior and the courts will be responsible for verifying and certifying whether applicants are Somaliland citizens or not. Non-Somaliland citizens will not be allowed to register.

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