Africa-Press – Liberia. November 14, 2023 will be a defining moment for Liberia as voters go to the polls to elect their next president. The ECC calls on all Liberians to conduct themselves peacefully, as was done during the first round of voting.
On October 10, 2023, 1,948,485 Liberians voted in the general presidential and legislative elections. On October 24, 2023, the NEC successfully tallied and announced 100.0% of the total votes cast, stating that 5.88% were invalid. The incumbent, President George Weah, received 804,087 votes, constituting 43.83%, and the Standard Bearer of Unity Party (UP) and former vice president received 796,961 votes, constituting 43.44%. With these figures, the NEC declared a presidential run-off election because none of the two candidates who obtained the highest number of votes achieved the legally required 50% plus 1 vote to win outright in the first round.
After the general elections held on October 10, the ECC issued statements denouncing the acts of disruptions and interference with the tally process by some members of political parties in both Nimba and Montserrado Counties. Additionally, during the run-off campaign, the ECC has documented instances of attacks in Bong, Nimba, and Grand Gedeh counties by political party supporters. As such, we implore all political actors to uphold the Farmington Declaration and preserve the peace. Recently, there have been several threats made against observer groups. Despite this harassment and intimidation, the ECC will continue to conduct its observations in an impartial and objective manner and release its reports publicly.
The ECC further reminds the NEC that its observers who are deployed convey observation reports primarily using their phones. Therefore, the NEC and polling officials are encouraged to allow the observers to use their phones while observing the process. The ECC equally hopes that the recently concluded training of NEC polling officials will ensure adherence to polling procedures such as correctly sorting and reconciliation of the ballots during the counting process. ECC is aware of the challenges faced by some poll workers during the first round of the elections and admonishes the NEC officials to increase supervision and proper conduct of the process.
ECC Election Day Observation and Deployment Methodology
In preparation for observing this election, the ECC trained and deployed 1738 observers 1500 short-term observers, 73 electoral district supervisors, and 19 county coordinators. The ECC also trained and deployed an additional 146 district observers to support supervision and the observation of the tally process at the NEC’s magisterial offices. Of the 1500 STOs, 1200 are deployed as stationary observers stationed at polling places throughout election day, and the remaining 300 short-term observers will be mobile. The 146 district observers, county cOordinators, and supervisors will also be mobile observers, reporting on the general electoral environment on election day.
The ECC will issue two statements on its observation of the run-off election process, including a mid-day/situational statement on election day and a preliminary statement folowing election day. The election day situational statement will highlight observations of the opening and set up of observed polling places. The second is a preliminary statement, focusing on voting, closing, counting, and tabulation of results.
Post-election Observation
The ECOC will deploy observers to observe the tallying process at all magisterial offices across the country to assess the process transparency level. The ECC will further observe the filing and adjudication of all electoral petitions arising from the conduct of the election.
Recommendations: The ECC proposes the following recommendations:
To NEC:
Communicate to the public an update on the level of preparedness before the election day, including distribution of sensitive and non-sensitive materials as well as the readiness of polling staff to deploy adequately to their polling places on election day.
Communicate to the public in a timely manner about any challenges faced during the election and the tallying and transmission of election results.
Inform the public that threats, intimidation, and harassment of observer groups will not be tolerated.
To Political Parties:
Those political parties ensure the proper deployment of party agents on election day to observe the voting, tallying, and transmission of results.
The two major political parties are encouraged to inform their supporters to turn out peacefully and vote on election day.
Inform political party supporters that intimidation and threats against observer groups
will not be tolerated.
To Security:
Conduct its electoral security operations in a professional and non-partisan manner.
To Media:
Refrain from disseminating, disinformation and misinformation that has the tendency
to instill fear in the population.
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