The chair of the Election Coordinating Committee (ECC), Oscar Bloh has alarmed over the rate at which young people are becoming political parties’ militants.
Serving as a panelist at a one-day stakeholder’s interactive session organized by the West African Network for Peacebuilding WANEP, Bloh observed that with the declining economic situation, this creates the vulnerability of the young people becoming vulnerable to militancy in political parties.
“Militancy is becoming a common phenomenon within political parties and it cuts across most of the political parties which in my view when going to elections, if political parties do not trust the Security it will be one militant group vs the other militant group and the police may not have the resource, both human, logistics and financial to respond if these groups encounter each other,” Bloh explained.
He added that looking at the National Elections Commissions (NEC’s) timeline, which provides one month for campaign this means political parties will be crisscrossing the entire country in just one month period and this could be an issue that will spark chaos.
He said Liberians need to be mindful of the skill of the elections with 15 Senators, 73 Representatives and the Presidency and given the experiences in 2020 Senatorial Elections in which there were 14 electoral petitions in just one Senatorial Election and that more seats are up for grasp for Liberians should expect high level of electoral petitions to be brought before the NEC and Supreme Court and this is an issue of concern.
“We saw 14 electoral petitions in just one senatorial election so we can expect that we had more seats that will be contested for so there will be high level of electoral petitions so there will be appeals brought before the NEC and Supreme Court. This is an issue of concern and we request time adjudications of electoral petitions,” Bloh noted.
The ECC Chair said that Liberians should be aware that violence could be inevitable with the opposition’s rhetoric that this will be a ‘one term government’ the ruling party feels that they are entitled to two terms because previous government had two terms is a clear trigger for possible violence.
He warned that these are polarized public statements circulating the political corridors and no one is providing any clarification when these public are made, not even the Media. Bloh expressed disappointment that the media which should serve as the watchdog of the society is being heavily politicized.
“We are going to these processes with the politics of a politically driven media. The media credibility and its independence are under question and growing political control and ownership of community radio across the country is worrisome. He said in almost every county, there is a politically driven community radio owned, run, managed, controlled and influenced by politicians,” Bloh noted.
He reminded Liberians that in 2023 there will be elections in Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Liberia, adding, “Liberia needs to work as a country to ensure that the legal frameworks are in place to be responsive to the political violence.”
The ECC and NEC need to improve the quality of their discussion and encourage the political parties to send their best to these meetings so that they can get out required and desired outcomes and we have seen meetings attended by low-ranking people in political parties and they complain afterwards and then it’s too late.
“We have to take these elections serious and you need to put out your best to these meetings so that your objectives can be met. We as civil society have no vested political interested but we have interest in the conduct of free and fair elections,” Bloh said.
Going forward, he recommend high level of diplomacy for international and regional bodies to hold the political parties to commit to peaceful conduct of elections.
Also serving on the panel was the head of the Liberian Elections Observer Network (LEON), Augustine Tamba. He recognized that Liberians have accepted the concept of peace irrespective of our political persuasions or religious affiliation stressing that Liberians have come to a concrete realization that for the country to move forward, peace should be the hallmark and security is not only important for the conduct of free fair and transparent elections but security in its totality is very important for the continuous operation for the country.
He narrated that some of the issues are around the census, voter registration the biometric issue, should be grave concerns that should send a sharp signal to Liberians as for the outcome of the 2023 elections. He said the presence of security around the country, during before and after elections is very cardinal especially in rural areas.
“For instance the situation in Gbarpolu County can be liken to either the lack of security before the voter registration exercise and during the elections itself if we had security presence before the VR that means the allegations that foreigner from Sierra Leone coming in to register would have been avoided and we need to take that into consideration knowing that Liberia borders Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Guinea and possibility of the reoccurrence of some of these activities of people leaving.
There need to be adequate support to the security sector of our country so as provide the necessary security for both the ballot box that is our concern as CSOs, the protection of the ballot box and to also ensure that all stakeholders who are associated with the elections are actually protected under the frame work of our security sector.
On the overall we did not report as CSOs the tampering of ballot after elections during the transmission process but I think also that is very important as we move towards 2023 elections with the high perception of the rigging of the elections the security around the mending of our votes needs to be augmented and actually be very visible that citizen can begin the process of regaining trust and confidence in the entire electoral process for the acceptance of the outcome of the 2023 elections
In an effort to bring women voices to the discussion on a peaceful election in 2023 our reporter conducted Vox Pop with women in the ELWA Community in Paynesville, speaking on electoral security, Elizabeth Harmon said it is the duty of the government to protect its citizens.
She is convinced that Liberia will not go back to the ugly past because Liberians have had enough. “As for war we are going there but we still need to be careful because everything that brought the war we still doing it,” Harmon said.
The head of the Duazon women of Substance, Lusu Massaquoi said these elections are critical to women because women are the ones that bear the brunt if anything breaks out. She said Liberian women need to sit with the government to discuss security implications for women during the elections especially women in rural communities.
“Sometimes the voting centers can be very far from the village and women can be scare to go vote so most of the time rural women can vote,” she was quick to appeal to the political parties to commit to a peaceful 2023 elections.
Speaking for the Peace Building Office, Christopher Fayiah said to achieve a peaceful election in 2023, all parties to the elections must be committed to preventing a violence-free electoral process.
He said when state actors and agency begin to correct all the missteps that will be triggered by human security violation, thereby reaffirming the government’s commitment in respect to a peaceful electoral process which will lead to fair, transparent and credible elections.
“Though there are challenges, there are also steps to eliminate some of the national security challenges. It is important to know that to achieve the full prevention of electoral violence, there is a need for continued dialogue in and among political parties, CSOs, state actors and agency involving the participation of Liberia international partner including ECOWAS and AU,” he closed.
