ECC Intensifies Observation of Electoral Activities Across Liberia

Monrovia – The Elections Coordinating Committee (ECC) has intensified its observation mission to include the Political Parties’ Primaries and the Exhibition of the Provisional Registration Roll across the 73 electoral districts within the 15 counties.

This is part of the ECC long-term elections observation mission deploying 89 observers including 16 county coordinators and 73 electoral district observers, two coordinators from Montserrado County who observed the voter registration process.

ECC observers are using mobile phones to submit coded text messages to the ECC Secretariat where analysis of the data is done using latest software. 

While the political parties primaries observation is ongoing, the ECC has prepared to start the exhibition observation beginning June 12 to 17, 2017, across the country.

The observation will cover mostly the Objections, Claims, and Complaint hearing process. Periodic and provisional statements will be released during the observation period and a comprehensive report at the end of the final phase.

To improve the quality of data that is been collected, ECC’s Observers are trained to use specific checklists and critical incident forms that are developed by the ECC and monitored by the Secretariat. The checklists and critical incident forms are the instruments being used to gather information on the observation of the process.

In addition to the observation of the Exhibition of the Provisional Registration Roll (PRR) to ensure the standard of transparency and openness of the electoral process, the ECC is observing the Political Parties Primaries to watch for compliance with democratic tenets as well as adherence to Section 4.5(1) regarding the 30% gender inclusion outlined in the Amended New Elections Laws of Liberia.

Mr. Oscar Bloh, the ECC Chairman, said ECC’s observers are building public confidence in the honesty of electoral processes, preventing conflict and ensuring the voices of the voters are heard; he encouraged every Liberians who registered to make sure their information are correct by visiting the exhibition centers to check. He said for the 2017 elections the ECC will observe all aspect of the electoral process and provide independent view of the process.

The ECC remains the single largest professional civil society platform monitoring, documenting and reporting all aspects of the electoral process since 2011.

Members of the ECC include the West Africa Network for Peace Building (WANEP), the Women NGOs Secretariat, Action for Genuine Democratic Alternative (AGENDA), the Center for Democratic Governance (CDG), Center for Media Studies and Peace Building.

Others are Naymote Partners for Democratic Development and the Institute for Research and Democratic Development (IREDD).

The work of the ECC is done in collaboration with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) with support from the United States Agencies for International Development (USAID).