Int’l Election Observers Declare Run-off Credible
By: Lewis K. Glay
Forum
Monrovia, Liberia
Distributed by
The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia
The observer missions, at separate press conferences held in Monrovia, encouraged Liberians to, irrespective of their political differences, accept in good faith, the outcome of the election result for the sake of sanity so that the nation can begin a unique process of reconciliation and development.
The African Union, European Union, Carter Center, National Democratic Institute among others said Liberians have sincerely demonstrated a general sense of belongingness following 14 years of devastating civil war by casting votes peacefully to elect their national leader.
They said the conduct of the run-off experienced scanty irregularities, but expressed outright satisfaction over the manner of procedures being set forth by the National Elections Commission(NEC) which they believe portrayed international standards.
The mission also urged the new government to include defeated candidates and parties of the elections aimed at setting good agenda for unification and reconciliation in order to cement the core of Liberia’s rebuilding process.
Commenting on an alleged election fraud being claimed by the Congress
for Democratic Change(CDC), the observers said they did not recall any such
misgiving attitude as far as their statistics indicates, but acknowledged
being earmarked that the CDC has formally filed in a complaint with the
NEC on the claim.
In light of this, the missions said they have encouraged the commission
to conduct an expeditious investigation into the alleged fraud in line with
the Liberian electoral law in order to seek an amicable resolution satisfactory
to all parties concerned.
At the same token, a domestic observer team-the Campaign Monitoring Coalition(CMC) has also declared the process of the run-off as being transparent and peaceful.
The CMC at a press conference held on the Camp Johnson Road over the weekend
said it did not observe any fraud as claimed by the CDC as such the claim
should be investigated by the NEC impartially.
The domestic observer team has at the same time commended Liberians for
the responsible manner in which they conducted themselves at the poll.
The coalition conglomerates four organizations-Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL); Foundation for Human Rights and Democracy (FOHRD); National Human Rights Center of Liberia (NHRCL) and Liberia Institute of Public Opinion(LIPO). USAID, LTI and IFES are said to be the brains behind the work of the coalition.
