Monrovia – Less than 10 percent of the 778,291 registered voters in Montserrado County voted in the July 31st Senatorial by-election in Montserrado County.
Report by Bettie K. Johnson-Mbayo, [email protected]
Voter turnout for the election has drastically decreased in the county since 2014, according to figures provided by the National Elections Commission (NEC).
Of the 778,291 persons, who were registered by the NEC to vote in Montserrado in the 2017 Presidential and General Elections, only 67,308 persons turned out to vote in the by-election in the county. This is less than percent of the registered voters in Montserrado, which now hosts more than one million of the nation’s five million inhabitants.
In the 2014 senatorial by-election in the county, of the total number of 649,830 registered voters, at least 130,616 persons turned out and that amounted to at least 20.1 percent of the total registered voters, which NEC had recorded for the 2011 Presidential and General Elections.
The 2014 percentage is was more than twice those who voted in the 2018 Montserrado by-election. This clearly shows voters’ apathy.
Election officials at several precincts said there was low turnout of voters throughout the July 31st election day.
Standing outside a voting precinct in Bentol City after 5pm, Faith Brown said he usually voted early but didn’t in the Tuesday election.
“I decided not to vote no matter what. Our lawmakers are not doing anything to encourage us to go in lines to vote,” he said.
The 35-year-old said he knows the Unity Party candidate Josephine Francis personally, and it made him not willing to get out and vote.
While precincts were not seeing higher than usual numbers in some areas, statistics from NEC record on early voting showed Montserrado County had a very poor turnout.
When it comes to Montserrado County voter turnout had been impressive, 354,360 (72.9%) in 2005, 2014 recorded 130,616 (20.1%) but this year’s early voting tally shows a huge percent reduction of less than 10 percent.
In 2014, an analysis of primary elections across the country showed Montserrado ranked highest in voter turnout at 20.1 percent.
Tom Wion alias Picardo and Isaac Johnson NEC polling officers assigned at Newport Junior High School said they saw low turnout the last by-election than in the last elections.
At the end of the day, the precincts at Demonstration had only taken in 100 ballots by 6pm, which is far less than what the precinct saw the entire day during the 2014 election. Johnson said they always reached 350 votes.
The low voter turnout in this gone senatorial by-election is a threat to Liberia’s young democracy, said Frances Greaves, Chair of the National Civil Society Organization (NCSOCL) Council of Liberia.
Greaves, who spent the day touring polling stations, said she was disappointed that many people stayed home instead of getting out and vote for the replacers of President George Manneh Weah and Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor both of whom represented, at the Senatorial level, Montserrado and Bong Counties respectively before they ascended.
“It is a wakeup call, if we are not careful, no one will vote in future elections,’’ she cautioned.
Greaves said civil society organizations should reflect on the implications of the low turnout in the by-election and begin to map out a holistic strategy to engage citizens on the importance of voting in future elections, especially in 2020 for the senatorial elections and the presidential election in five years.
She further stated that the low turnout is an indication that Liberians do not have a strong desire for democracy.
“They are reluctant because they do not know the candidates; there was low voters education,” Greaves said. “People are losing their enthusiasm and there is a need for more awareness. There should also be an analysis of why Liberians are withdrawing from democracy,’’ she added.
Most civil society organizations, which are normally involved in monitoring elections in the country, did not also participate in Tuesday’s by-election, she said.
First-time voter Alecia Dahn, 26, said she did not see any political ads because she doesn’t watch television and had refused to listen to radio.
She said she was not motivated by any political action by any of the candidates, Saah Joseph, Mark Kershen, Bernard Benson (alias DJ Blue), Josephine Francis and Michael Tipayson.