By Alex Yomah
The European Union Elections Observation Mission (EU-EOM) to Liberia reports that the use of state resources by the incumbency and lack of oversight of campaign finance by the National Election Commission (NEC) distorted the level playing field.
Announcing as peaceful the transfer of political power, the EU-EOM said it also recognized that this is the first presidential and general elections solely conducted by Liberians, since the departure of the United Nations Mission in Liberia.
Meanwhile, the EU Observers Mission highlighted six priority recommendations pointing to the need to review the legal framework to address loopholes, ambiguous and contradictory provisions related to candidate registration, campaign finance and adjudication of complaints and appeals.
The recommendations also called for the provision of the NEC with requisite and timely allocated financial resources to ensure its independence and efficiency, decentralize the voter registration process and increase the number of registration centers.
The Mission also wants government consider empowering the NEC to enforce the campaign finance regulations, adopt quotas to achieve gender equality in the Legislature and adjudicate the election complaints more expediently.
However, in the Mission’s final report conclusion, it stated that despite numerous challenges (including budget constraints), the NEC efficiently managed the preparations leading to successful election days.
The mission observed the largely peaceful and vibrant campaign with political freedoms being respected; the Liberian people demonstration of commitment to the exercise of democracy thereby describing the election as an important milestone that strengthened the country’s democracy.
The chief observer of the 2023 EU Observation Mission (EOM) to Liberia, Andreas Schieder, said, “The timely concession by the incumbent President George Weah after the closely contested elections significantly contributed to the peaceful transition of power.”
He said, as part of its final report, the Mission identified several electoral issues where further improvements may be considered by Liberian authorities.
He furthered that the report contains 22 recommendations, of which six were offered as priority recommendations that point to the need for reviewing legal framework, providing timely financial allotments to the NEC, decentralizing voter registration processes, and adopting quotas to achieve gender equality, among others.
Schieder said, “The Mission observed the largely peaceful and vibrant campaign with political freedoms being respected; the Liberian people demonstrated their commitment to the exercise of democracy and, in general, the election process was positively assessed by the EU election observers.”
According to the EU, the EU-EOM’s final report is a comprehensive assessment of the entire electoral process that builds on the initial findings of the preliminary statements, which were issued shortly after both rounds of the presidential election.
The EU-EOM was deployed in the country following an invitation by the Liberian authorities to observe the 2023 General Elections.
The Mission comprised of 104 observers from 27 EU member states as well as Canada and Norway were deployed in all 15 counties of Liberia from August 27 to December 10, 2023.
