ECOWAS Observation Team Hopeful of Successful Polls in Liberia

9 October 2011
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Economic Community of West African States (Abuja)
press release

Monrovia — Professor Attahiru Jega, head of the 150-member ECOWAS Election Observation Mission to Liberia, has expressed optimism about the potential for the successful outcome of the country's 11th October presidential and legislative polls.

"From the level of preparations, and what I have observed in terms of the manner of deployment of electoral personnel and material, I think Liberia is on course for a successful election", Professor Jega, chair of Nigeria's Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), told journalists in Monrovia after visiting the office of Liberia's National Elections Commission (NEC) on Friday, 8th October 2011. While acknowledging that "preparations alone do not translate to a successful election", he however, noted that the indications were positive from what he had seen on ground in Liberia ahead of the polls.

Professor Jega, who oversaw the conduct of the April 2011 presidential elections in Nigeria, whose outcome was internationally acknowledged as free, fair and credible, also drew a parallel between the electoral challenges in Liberia and Nigeria. He said although the Liberian elections commission was dealing with less than two million registered voters compared to Nigeria with some 73 million voters, there were lessons to be learnt on all sides towards strengthening the democratic process and good governance in West Africa.

The Head of the ECOWAS Observation Mission described his appointment by the ECOWAS as a great honour and privilege and pledged the commitment of the team to handle the assignment with dignity, impartiality and diligence. Speaking after receiving Professor Jega and the ECOWAS Commission's President, His Excellency James Victor Gbeho, Mr. James Fromayan, the NEC chair, thanked ECOWAS and Member States for their financial, technical and logistical support towards successful elections in Liberia The ECOWAS Observation team will be deployed to monitor the polls across Liberia, Africa's first Republic with an estimated population of four million people and 1.7 million registered voters.

Under the election time-table, the announcement of the final results of the presidential elections is fixed for 26th October 2011 and possible run-off on 8th November 2011. Some 16 candidates are contesting for the presidency, including the incumbent President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who was elected Africa's first female president in 2005.

Read the original article on Ecowas.

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