Observers from the African Union, the West African regional bloc ECOWAS and the European Union on Thursday, 12 October 2023, congratulated Liberia for holding peaceable presidential and legislative elections two days earlier.
“The election day was calm and nicely carried out by the Nationwide Elections Fee and their workers nationwide”, Andreas Schieder, the EU commentary mission’s chief observer, stated in an announcement.
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ECOWAS congratulates the Liberia electoral fee
ECOWAS and the AU congratulated the federal government and the election fee for the organisation of peaceable elections, marked by enthusiasm and a excessive participation fee.
The vote was the primary to be held for the reason that United Nations ended its peacekeeping mission in Liberia in 2018. The mission was created after greater than 250,000 folks died in two civil wars between 1989 and 2003.
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Twenty candidates contested the presidential race, together with incumbent George Weah — a former worldwide soccer star — and his fundamental rival, Joseph Boakai, who was vice chairman from 2006 to 2018.
Campaigning was carried out peacefully
The EU mission stated campaigning had been largely peaceable and that the media had been capable of work freely. However, Schieder stated, “using authorities platforms and state assets constituted a bonus to the incumbency”.
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“Whereas the conduct of voting was typically evaluated as well-organised and clean, the counting part was assessed by EU observers much less positively as a result of omission or incorrect implementation of a number of vital procedural steps meant to make sure the integrity of the depend,” the EU mission stated in its preliminary report.
The election fee started reporting preliminary outcomes on Wednesday, with the ultimate final result to be introduced inside 15 days of the vote.If no candidate obtains an absolute majority, a run-off will likely be held in early November.
© Agence France-Presse
