As Over 2.4M Registered Voters Prepare To Vote In Presidential And Legislative Election Tues. October 10
PHOTO: Leaders of the Situation Room at the ESR’s first press conference in Monrovia for Liberia elections 2023
By Alfred Kollie, alfredkolliejr92@gmail.com
On the eve of Liberia’s Presidential and legislative elections this Tuesday, October 10. 2023, the Coordinated Election Situation Room (ESR) has called on all eligible Liberian voters to peacefully turn out to exercise their democratic franchise and wait for the results to be officially announced by National Election Commission (NEC).
On Tuesday, October 10, 2023, 2,471,617 registered Liberians comprising 1,237,257 females (50.058%) and 1,234,360 males (49.9%) will go to the polls to participate in the elections.
The Election Situation Room is an integral part of the Electoral Violence Monitoring, Analysis and Mitigation (E-MAM) project, coordinated by West Africa Network for Peace Building (WANEP) in partnership with the Office of the Special Representative of the President of ECOWAS Commission in Liberia and the National Center for the Coordination of Response Mechanism (NCCRM).
It is resourced by 150 observers deployed in identified hotspots across 13 Counties.
“The period leading up to the October 10 polls have generally been peaceful except for the unfortunate incidences that occurred between August 2023 and end of the campaign on Sunday, October 8, 2023 including:
- Violence between two rival parties in Bahn, Northeastern Nimba County last August which left one person dead
- The September 29, violence in the Northwestern City of Foya, Lofa County in which 2 persons were confirmed dead
- Clashes between rival supporters of two parties on the last day of campaign (Sunday, October 8, 2023 on the Japan Freeway in Montserrado County that left some persons injured,” the statement from the Elections Situation noted.
The group in its first conference on Monday, October 8, 2023 urged the National Election Security Taskforce to uphold the principles of neutrality, impartiality and professionalism in the discharge of their duties. It is designed to monitor, analyze, report and facilitate response to violent threats to peaceful conduct of the October 10, 2023 Liberian general elections.
Reading the statement, Madam Ciatta Clarke a Security Expert and member of the Board of Directors of the National Center for the Coordination of Response Mechanism (NCCRM) challenged the Joint security to be robust, proactive and do everything to ensure swift and professional investigation of violence that may erupt before, during and after October 10 elections.
The statement said this will serve as deterrent, while ensuring that perpetrators are brought to justice.
This general election is the fifth election since the end of the civil wars in Liberia. Out of the 46 registered political parties, 20 candidates are accredited by the National Elections Commission (NEC) to contest the elections.
These include two (2) female (representing 10%) and eighteen (18) male presidential candidates. There are a total of 886 candidates contesting for 73 seats in the House of Representative, which comprise of 143 females, representing 16% and 100 candidates, including 7 females representing 7% contesting for the 15 available seats in the Senate. The elections will be conducted within 5,890 polling places at 2,080 voting precincts across the Country.