As The Tallying And NEC Announcement Of Results Continue
By Alfred Kollie, alfredkolliejr92@gmail.com
The Coordinated Election Situation Room (ESR) of the November 14, 2023, presidential run-off elections in Liberia is encouraging political parties to continue to prevail on their supporters to remain peaceful and law-abiding during the counting, tallying, and announcement of results.
The group is also calling on Liberians to refrain from any act that is likely to threaten the peace and security of the state in the post-election period.
The West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) organized the ESR the ESR is part of our contribution towards credible election in Liberia and it is doing so in collaboration with National Center for the Coordination Response Mechanism (NCCRM), Peace Building Office (PBO) and ECOWAS is operating the ESR, with funding from the European Union and its core partners of Sweden and Austria.
According to the National Elections Commission (NEC), a total of 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 presidential run-off election[1]. This election has been considered critical to sustainable democracy since the restoration of peace 20 years ago.
Speaking at its third press conference on Wednesday, November 14 in Monrovia, the ESR called on the Joint Security and NEC to swiftly launch investigation into other forms of electoral violence that breached the electoral law, to ensure deterrence.
He said the ESR will continue to use its good offices and through backdoor channels to prevail on party supporters and leaders to eschew violence and maintain the peace.
” There was the presence of relevant Election Officials, Joint Security, and political parties poll watchers in most of the polling stations even as the voting process was concluding. Additionally, youth and female participation was encouraging with females representing 30-50% of voters, while youth constituted more than 50%” Mr. Roberts observed.
According to him, ESR observers also reported that polling centers were accessible to all including persons with disabilities (PWDs), the late opening of some polling centers; cases of distribution of food and campaigning during the voting process; and the absence of ballot papers at the start of the polls in some centers, which delayed the commencement of voting, among other things.
Voting was generally peaceful but…
“The ESR observers reported that voting proceeded peacefully in the places they observed. However, there were isolated cases of verbal and physical attacks in some counties. In Montserrado – District #10 Polling Center # 30306, Living Water Baptist School, a man was asked to leave the polling center by a security officer for campaigning for one of the parties against the electoral rules.
In Nimba – District #1, Center #33078, Foundation Academy, a voter attacked the Ballot Paper Issuer for attempting to fold his ballot paper after voting, which led to a Scuffle between two other voters, but security intervened and put the situation under control.
In Nimba – District #1, Center #33073, YMCA High School, unidentified individuals allegedly attempted to prevent the Vice Standard Bearer of the UP, Senator Jeremiah Koung from entering the polling center by hauling insults. But security immediately moved in and put the situation under control” He noted.
They maintained that the general atmosphere remains relatively calm, other incidents reported from the various polling centers were observed but with several technical Incidents.
“NEC is commended for improving on some of the hitches identified in the October 10, 2023 election including the disaggregation of voters list for easy identification. There were disagreements between CDC and UP Poll Watchers regarding the use of the Final Registration Roll (FRR) because the Polling Officer (PO) instructed the Verification Officer (VO) not to announce a voter’s identity. But in a press release issued this afternoon (November 14, 2023), by the National Elections Commission (NEC) “rejected the report that there was a signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with political parties wherein procedures for voters’ identification was agreed with the political parties”.
According to the ESR, in the first few hours of polling, observers reported several incidents including Montserrado County District # 15, International School, Precinct #30188, voting was disrupted for 10 minutes after confusion erupted over the verification of voters.
names on the FRR following a strong disagreement by a UP Agent, however, the confusion was amicably resolved by both UP and CDC poll watchers following NEC polling officers’ intervention.
They urged political parties and citizens of Liberia to continue to exercise patience and keep the
peace while waiting for the process to progress and conclude in line with the Electoral Laws of Liberia.
The ESR however, called on Liberians to resist the attempt to disseminate unverified and or potentially inflammatory information on mainstream and social media.
[1] National Elections Commission (NEC) 2023 Elections Results Portal. https://results.necliberia.org/.