-Says it is cardinal to the peace and security
By G Bennie Bravo Johnson I
In the wake of the official announcement by the National Elections Commission (NEC) to conduct the presidential election runoff on 14th November 2023, the women situation room of the Angie Brooks International Center for Women Empowerment Leadership Development, International Peace and Security, on Thursday October 26, 2023, releases its findings in the conduct of the October 10, general elections. The WSR asserts that findings of the WSR are crucial to the peace and security of our beloved country.
“In the wake of the official announcement by the National Elections Commission (NEC) to conduct the presidential election runoff on 14th November 2023, we are pleased to bringto your attention the prioritized findings of the WSR which are crucial to the peace and security of our beloved country.”
The WSR is a non-partisan peace-building mechanism that mobilizes, trains, and empowers women in collaboration with youth to take ownership of peace processes in their communities before, during and after elections.
Delivering the findings of the WSR, the establishment coordinator of the Angie Brooks International Center for Women Empowerment Leadership Development International Peace and Security and the initiator of the Women Situation Room Cllr. Dr. Yvette Cheeson-Wureh stated that the findings are important as the interest of the women and youth is not only in observation but to go the extra mile to avoid and mitigate electoral violence.
She articulates that the WSR is always neutral and non-partisan. And at the highest levels, it has been endorsed by the African Union (AU) and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) as a best practice to be replicated.
It can be recalled that in recent a joint statements by the Women’s Situation Room (WSR) and the Liberia Council of Churches (LCC), it detailed the position of the WSR findings on the general political environment, election-day activities and post elections findings which included the condemnation of illegal declarations of results and premature celebrations by political parties and supporters.
The initiator of the Women Situation Room Cllr. Dr. Yvette Cheeson-Wureh in her deliberation of the findings of the October 10 elections, revealed that the electorates reported alleged trucking of voters to register and subsequently to vote which caused disturbances during voting.
She says the WSR also monitored the public interest and reactions generated across the country during the collation and official announcement of results. Before the runoff election on 14th November, the WSR strongly recommended NEC to address the issues tabled to its offices be it the computational errors identified or others as indicated in earlier releases, to allay any lingering concerns and doubts.
In the WSR report, they asserted that one major issue to overcome and ensure a Peaceful Presidential Runoff Election is the Civic and Voter Education (CVE). They further asserting that the inadequacy of civic and voter education before the October 10 general elections can be blamed for the staggering 114,639 invalid votes which represented 5.88% of the total votes.
The WSR stated that the NEC during the course of the elections informed Liberians that first-time voters constituted a little over 20 percent of registered voters, stating that the figure points to the priority of Civic and Voter Education.
The WSR in the report further revealed that during the course of the elections, the WSR Talking Bus was deployed to its seven active counties for such education.
Therefore calling on the NEC together with other stakeholders to see need to scale up CVE efforts to ensure voters were sufficiently informed.
“The WSR is calling on NEC and partners to boost CVE ahead of the runoff election in a much more decentralized manner to raise awareness through door-to-door visits, radio talk shows, TV programmes, jingles, and dialogues with politically marginalized people such as women, youth, and persons with disabilities. The Talking Bus will once more be deployed by the WSR to our 7 counties to assist in the Civic and Voter Education as we wait for the runoff elections.” The WSR said
In furtherance, the WSR through it establishment coordinator, Cllr. Dr. Yvette Cheeson-Wureh stated that the responsibility of peaceful and non-provocative campaign activities lies with the political parties scheduled for the presidential runoff election.
Therefore, she called on partisans from the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) and the Unity Party (UP) to listen and follow directions which trickle down to them from their party’s leadership as well as the managers of the political campaigns.
“Given the regretful bloody clashes of some campaign activities including that of 8th October between the CDC and ALCOP where injuries were sustained and properties were lost, including damage to one WSR vehicle, the WSR is calling on CDC and UP to police their campaign activities. It should not be recorded that this ugly history be repeated during the preparatory activities of the presidential runoff elections because lessons were not learned from the mistakes of the past.”
“The WSR impresses upon CDC and UP to prioritize the peace of the country above all else. NEC Preparation for November 14: the WSR encourages NEC to ensure early preparation including alternative means to transport the sensitive and non-sensitive materials to the various polling precincts and places. Where the need arises, these materials should be protected against damage and additional costs especially across river communities. The NEC temporal staff managing the elections at the various polling precincts and polling places should be incentivized at the time of deployment to keep their focus on the tasks assigned to them.”
She continued by stating that the WSR observers were engaged during the October 10 elections on the lack of stipends to temporary NEC staff, especially those in rural areas, wherein they had to rely on the generosity of residents. She notes that the conditions of NEC temporal staff deployment should not encourage them to seek relief in this manner as they may be leaning towards compromise.
Meanwhile, in regards to voting on October ten, the WSR revealed that while the layout of polling precincts and polling places have already been determined from the October 10 elections, considerations should be boosted for voters with disabilities, the elderly, pregnant women, nursing mothers and other persons who fall under the category of priority voting.
The WSR further said that the observed priority voting was not entirely observed through our observers and from the daily situational briefings by the WSR analysts.
However, one of the WSR observers was given the permission to assist a blind voter to vote.
