Press Statement by the Election Monitoring and Violence Prevention Situation Room on the conduct of the 2023 Presidential and Legislative Elections in Liberia.

October 12, 2023

The Elections Monitoring and Violence Prevention Situation Room is impressed with the current level of calm across the country as the tallying process and the pronouncement of preliminary results by the National Election Commission (NEC) are ongoing.

We have received confirmed reports of pre-victory jubilations across a number of places including Montserrado and Bomi Counties among others. This is not a good practice and must be discouraged.

It is also essential to flag reports that some political parties are planning to hold press conferences in order to announce results from their War Rooms. This, we believe has the potential of raising tensions which could lead to uncontrollable situations.

The Situation Room wishes to call on all political parties and independent candidates to desist from any form of pre-victory jubilation and the pronouncement of elections’ results since it is only the National Elections Commission (NEC) that has the sole authority to announce official results.

We call on the National Elections Commission to accelerate the tallying process for accessible counties and promptly release results in its possession to the public in order to avoid speculations by political parties and independent candidates.

We are pleased to report that voting was completed in Tokpaville, Sinoe County and results are posted at polling centers as ballot boxes were transported to the Magistrate’s office.

It is also reported from Sinoe that the NEC staff have not been able to reach the town of Ducorfree in Jaedepo District, to conduct voting. This is also due to flooding that has made roads impassable.

In Beo-lontuo, electoral District #4, Nimba County, an angry crowd reportedly destroyed two ballot boxes on 10^th October which led to the halting of the voting process. The Police Emergency Response Unit (ERU) was only deployed on 11^th October to bring the situation under control. No voting has so far taken place in this location since the incident took place.

There is also an unconfirmed report that in polling station number 15045, Toffi Town, Konobo District, Grand Gedeh County, sealed ballot boxes containing Legislative results were taken by the assigned NEC workers who left behind the presidential ballot box claiming that they forgot. We would like to encourage NEC to take actions in addressing any situation that may cause misperceptions and to continue to work to increase credibility and transparency.

There is a confirmed report of fire outbreak at the NEC Magistrate Office in Gbarnga, Bong County. The Liberia Fire Service (LFS) intervened and brought the situation under control with no major damage done to ballot boxes. The cause of the fire is reportedly linked to electrical fault. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Situation Room again, encourages the public to continue to remain peaceful and to make use of its Call Center on the short code number 2266 for both MTN and Orange to report any incident.

Signed:

Amb. Marjon V. Kamara

Chairperson, Eminent Persons

Election Monitoring and Violence Prevention Situation Room