afrol News, 19 December - Barely three months after conducting a highly contested presidential and parliament polls, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) of Sierra Leone is putting its house in order to organise the local government polls scheduled for next year.

The ruling Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) of the former President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah was defeated at the polls by the opposition candidate, Ernest Bai Koroma.

NEC officials yesterday told a news conference in the capital Freetown that they would simultaneously conduct on chairpersons, mayors and councillors contests.

This is the first time chairpersons and mayors will be elected by the electorate, a complete deviation from the past when elected councillors were mandated to choose among themselves.

The Director of Operations at NEC, Nfah Conteh, assured the use of Universal Suffrage system during the polls.

He also said voters will vote using an updated version of the voter register used in the August/September polls.

Meanwhile, the SLPP has dragged NEC to court for nullifying some four hundred thousand votes in the East and Southern regions of the country in the September presidential run-off without a court order. The party said the commission had overstepped its powers.

NEC\'s lawyer argued that the High Court lacked jurisdiction to preside over the case. He was ordered by the presiding Judge, Mary Sei, to put his objection in writing.

By Edward Kargbo in Freetown, Sierra Leone

© afrol News

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