By: Varney Dukuly
MONROVIA: In Liberia, where National Elections Commission (NEC) leads citizens to major Presidential and Legislative elections, explicit trust and confidence in the electoral body, according to the 2023 Afro-barometer survey on Liberia, remains weak.
MONROVIA: In Liberia, where National Elections Commission (NEC) leads citizens to major Presidential and Legislative elections, explicit trust and confidence in the electoral body, according to the 2023 Afro-barometer survey on Liberia, remains weak.
The survey suggests that only one third of Liberians say they have trust in the NEC, a decline of ten percentage points since 2018.
“Only one-third of Liberians say they trust the National Elections Commission (NEC) as the country approaches general elections in October, according to the latest Afro-barometer survey.”
The survey added that six in ten citizens noted that elections do not work well for them to ensure that members of House of Representatives and Senate reflect the views of voters.
However, a majority think elections do enable voters to remove leaders who do not do what people want.
One finding in the survey stressed that, more than three-fourths of Liberians say political parties that loss an election should cooperate with the government, while twenty percent believe the opposition should instead focus on holding government to account.
“Almost three-fourths (73%) of citizens think it is unlikely that powerful people can find out how they voted,” said the Afro-barometer 2023 survey.
“An overwhelming majority (85%) of citizens say the 2017 elections were “completely free and fair” (59%) or “free and fair with minor problems” (26%).”
The survey comes on the heels of mounting criticisms from members of the public regarding apparent deficiencies in the ongoing biometric voter registration process. The situations which have adversely affected the registration of several members of voting population in terms of registration sparked calls for its extension by NEC which has a stipulated deadline on the process.
Most recently, at the Farmington Peace Declaration Program, the main opposition politician, Joseph Boakai shines light on some irregularities and called on the NEC to extend the BVR process in order to incorporate citizens who were disenfranchise as a result of technical glitches.
The Afro-barometer survey mentioned that it high time that the National Elections Commission steps up to meet the expectation and confidence of the populations.
“One of the NEC’s tasks is to manage the country’s transition from manual voter registration to the use of a biometric voter registration system–an opportunity for the NEC to build public confidence if it produces a credible voter roll.”
It is not clear whether the latest survey with respect to an almost lack of confidence in the NEC, the body cloth with the responsibility to administer ‘free and fair elections’ will now affect the chairperson who is facing allegations of corruption.
The Afro-barometer survey said public trust in the NEC has declined by 10 percentage points since 2018. But most Liberians, it added, think their last national elections in 2017 which brought Weah’s three-party Coalition-led government to power was free and fair, “and most expressed confidence in the secrecy of their ballots.”
The survey: “And although only minorities of citizens think their elections ensure that their views are represented, majorities think they do enable voters to remove leaders who don’t do what the people want.”
Meanwhile, Liberia’s traditional ally, the United States of America has raised grave concern over the lack of funding for the National Elections Commission.
Recently, US Ambassador Michael McCarthy said he was encouraged by President Weah’s statement at the UN General Assembly where he pledged a free and fair election.
Ambassador McCarthy told a news conference on Tuesday, March 28, 2023 that with one quarter of the calendar year already behind the people, the NEC has yet to receive any of its 2023 funding.
The NEC most recently said, the Ministry of Finance has provided US$18 million for the conduct of the biometric voters’ registration which is ongoing but a deficit of US$3.3 million still remains.
“We were informed that some four million was being processed but up to date, there is no funding for the elections process,” NEC Board Chair Davidetta Browne-Lansanah indicated during her appearance at the Senate.
Chair Lansanah noted that the Weah administration has also adjusted its US$91 million election budget to US$33 million and promised to make payment in phases.
But, the US government said such action should be alarming to every well meaning citizen with less than seven months away from elections.
Ambassador McCarthy: “This is a situation that should alarm every Liberian. Today I am urging that the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning immediately provide the elections commission with its full 2023 budget so it has the necessary resources to effectively prepare for and implement all aspects of the electoral process.” However, central government has provided NEC with US$5.5 million for the 2023 election activities.
