Monrovia – With ninety days to Liberia’s Presidential and Legislative Elections, there have been calls from several spectrum including key players of the electoral process, civil society groups and the International Community for peaceful and transparent elections.
Report by Gerald C. Koinyeneh – [email protected]
The latest to join in sounding the caveat is the former Chairman of the National Elections Commission, (NEC) and that of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), Cllr. Francis Johnson Allison.
Serving as Chief Presenter at a non-violent elections campaign awareness forum organized by the group, Friends of Our Time (FOOT) in New Kru Town recently, Cllr. Allison called on the National Elections Commission to do all in its powers to ensure peaceful and transparent elections come October 10, 2017.
“Electoral Management Body such as NEC should be above reproach and assume confidence in the participants of the elections,” she said.
“The NEC should endeavor to be as neutral and disinterested as much as possible.”
“This can be achieved by being transparent in the implementations of the electoral activities.”
“To this point NEC should by now disclose the numbers of registered voters following the exhibition of the provisional voter registration roll and the determination of objections and appeals on the exhibition from June 12 to 28 according to NEC own time table.”
“This level of transparency can prevent suspicion and enhance the integrity of the process, she averred.
Cllr. Allison speaking further, described the upcoming elections as the most hotly contested polls and addressing the first time voters, called on them to desist from acts of violence as they are about to make what she described as the most important political decision of their lives.
“Let me say this to all those who will be voting for the first time. The votes you’ll cast on October 10 could be the most important political decision of your lives.”
“Do not make that decision carelessly.
Additionally, no election has been more fiercely contested than the 2017 election promises to be; yet no candidate deserves the office of the President at the expense of our peace. Your votes will determine your peace and your destiny,” Cllr. Allison affirmed.
She asserted that a non-violent Campaign is a pre-requisite to a peaceful election and called on all major actors in the electoral process including the voters and political parties to do all they can to ensure that violence is not introduce during the campaign which starts on July 31, 2017.
She named the lack of sufficient information about a given candidate, partiality or perceived partiality in the treatment of candidates, ignorance on the part of the electorates about the workings of the NEC, and the denigrating of a political party’s candidates as some vices that trigger electoral violence.
The former Minister of Justice also lauded the political party’s leaders for their commitment to a violence-free election as demonstrated through the Farmington River Declaration during the ECOWAS Heads of States summit on June 4, 2017, and called on partisans to take clue from that exemplary gesture and govern themselves accordingly.
“First, as responsible voters, we should familiarize ourselves with the platforms of our respective candidates in order to help us stay on message, rather than engage in trivial arguments which often lead to tension and degenerate into violence.”
“If someone calls your candidate monkey or baboon, do not curse or fight, tell the person why your monkey or baboon candidate is better for the job. Tell the person what your candidate has done in the past,” she advised.
“Do not use your energy in nine weeks (the campaign period) just to demonize other candidates.”
“Use that time to sell your candidates by letting the electorates know the good things he or she has done; what sets him or her apart from others candidates, and why he or she is the best candidate for the job.”
“Seek to win votes for your candidates, rather than driving potential voters from your candidates,” Cllr. Allison urged.
Also speaking, the Director of Civic and Voter Education of NEC, Senesee G. Freeman disclosed that NEC and its partners are doing everything to ensure violence-free and transparent elections through come October.
Freeman noted that key decisions including registration and qualification of candidates taken by the NEC are done within the confines of the electoral laws of Liberia.
He said that the NEC, working with its international partners and civil society organizations, continues to carry out vigorous and intensive civic and voter outreach engagements with different stakeholder to ensure that people understand the key issues in the electoral process.
He pointed out that growing voters’ apathy towards the electoral process is a major challenge that NEC and its partners are trying to address.
“People are largely not very responsive to all of the different elections issues because they think that some of the elected political actors have not been forth coming as they should have been with regards to their performance; so people generally think that there is no need for them and their family to get involved in the political process.”
“So one critical thing the NEC and partners are doing is to show confidence in the electoral process and to inform people that they need to participate so that their voices can be heard,” Freeman averred.