-AU emphasizes need for smooth transition
By William Selmah wselmah@gmail.com
The head of the ECOWAS Observation Mission to Liberia, former Ghanaian President John John D. Mahama on Wednesday implored the two contenders in Liberia’s presidential runoff election “to accept the verdict of the ballot box.”
The candidates—George Weah of the main opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) and incumbent Vice President Joseph Boakai of the ruling party on Tuesday contested the delayed runoff polls to succeed outgoing President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Her second two-year term expired in January 2018.
President Mahama called on them to seek redress through available legal instruments in the event they have grievances, as he said the winner will be known in hours rather than days since it’s only two contestants.
“The Mission specifically congratulates the members and staff of the NEC for measures taken to correct the shortcomings observed during the first round of election and for the professionalism demonstrated throughout the runoff presidential election,” the former Ghanaian President said at a news conference in Monrovia on Wednesday.
The head of the ECOWAS elections mission also extolled presidential candidates Weah and Boakai for the statesmanship and exemplary conduct exhibited, urging them to remain on the side of peace and the rule of law throughout the process.
The EOWAS election observer mission also noted the contributions of all of the candidates and political parties that participated in the first round of elections for ensuring an orderly electoral exercise.
He said the people of Liberia have demonstrated patience, determination and peaceful conduct.
On the overall, the ECOWAS Observation Mission has graded the voting process as peaceful and satisfactory.
According to the ECOWAS observer mission, there was improvement in the voting process in the second round of election over what obtained in the October 10, 2017 first round of elections.
Poll workers were better trained and ensured speedy balloting, with Tuesday’s polls opening no later than 15 minutes after the official starting time at 8am, in addition to effective security presence, the ECOWAS mission said.
At the same time, President Mahama has called on the NEC to “approach the concluding phases of the process with fairness, openness and transparency until the proclamation of results”.
He called on NEC to expedite the tallying and releasing of results to avoid creating public anxiety.
AU on smooth transition
The African Union (AU) election observation mission spoke of the need for Liberians to do everything possible to have a smooth and peaceful transition, which will be the first time in more than 70 years.
At Wednesday’s news conference at a local hotel in Monrovia, the head of the AU mission said Tuesday’s runoff election has been conducted after the cleaning up of the Final Registration Roll (FRR) by NEC in line with a mandate of the Supreme Court of Liberia.
Releasing their findings, the AU team, who were deployed at some 154 polling places around Liberia, said the December 26 runoff election was conducted in accordance with the law and regulations of NEC.
They said polling centers were accessible to people with disabilities and commended NEC for being “very effective and transparent” in spite of the challenges with the limited time to conduct the polls.