Monrovia – As Liberians go to the polls on Tuesday, October 10, the Elections Coordinating Committee (ECC), in keeping with its mandate has announced the deployment of 2,170 elections observers of different categories across the country.
Report by Gerald C. Koiyeneh, [email protected]
In a statement issued over the weekend, the ECC noted that the first category includes 89 long term observers and 2,000 short term observers deployed in all of the 73 electoral Districts.
Of the 2000 observers, according to the ECC, 832 observers will be systematically deployed as Rapid Response Observers; and out of these, 500 will be part of a national sample based on a proportional distribution by District.
The ECC also pointed out that given the high concentration of voters in Montserrado, it is deploying additional Rapid Response Observers proportionally distributed across the county’s 17 electoral Districts; and based on this deployment strategy and using a real time reporting system, it will be able to report on the conduct of the polls across the country using representative information.
The ECC also disclosed that in addition to deploying 42 tally center observers covering all 19 magisterial offices and the national tally center, it has established a data center that will be receiving real time information through coded text messages from the observers at particular polling places; and will release periodic reports on the conduct of the elections based on the information received from its observers from the polling places observed.
Meanwhile, the EEC has called on major stakeholders including the National Elections Commission (NEC), political parties, the Judiciary, the security sector, the media, voters, and elections observer groups to perform their respective duties to ensure a peaceful process.
“As the nation prepares for and after Election Day, the ECC makes the following recommendations:
NEC: To safeguard the integrity of the process, the NEC must demonstrate a high degree of neutrality and transparency in the conduct, counting, tallying and announcement of results.
The NEC should treat all electoral petitions, disputes, and grievances in a transparent and timely manner. That the NEC should provide detailed information to the public on how the system set up for the entry and transmission of results will operate,” the ECC urged.
It called on all political parties and independent candidates and their supporters to remain peaceful, abide by the laws and refrain from announcing election results.
“If any political party or independent candidate has grievances on the electoral process and results, they should follow the laws and procedures as enshrined in the electoral laws and regulations.”
It recommends that all political parties and independent candidates should deploy trained agents to observe the voting, closing, counting and tallying of results and to properly document their findings and in no time interfere with the process.
The Elections Coordinating Committee, in the statement petitioned the Supreme Court to expeditiously adjudicate all electoral related petitions, disputes and grievances; and at the same time calling on the Liberia National Police (LNP) and other security agencies to continue to demonstrate neutrality and professionalism in dealing with electoral related matters.
It also called on the media to demonstrate a high degree of professionalism on how it reports on the results of the elections, and to be conflict sensitive in reporting on the electoral process and its outcome.
The EEC admonished all registered voters to take advantage of the day to turn out and vote in a peaceful manner and called on all national and international observation missions to coordinate their efforts in responding to issues arising from the electoral process and outcome.
“The ECC also wishes to commend the Liberian Government and its international partners for providing the financial resources needed to conduct these elections. The ECC also commends the National Elections Commission (NEC) for completing the Final Registration Roll (FRR), releasing the list of polling places, and distributing ballots and other election materials to the counties.”
“The ECC further commends the Liberia National Police (LNP) for the level of professionalism in providing security to all political parties and independent candidates during the campaign period. Furthermore, the ECC applauds the media for creating the space for political parties and independent candidates to share their campaign manifestos with the voters.”
The ECC is the largest civil society platform that observes all aspect of elections in Liberia. It works in partnership with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) with funding from USAID and OSIWA