Monrovia — The President of ECOWAS Commission, His Excellency James Victor Gbeho, has called on the 150-member ECOWAS Election Observation Mission being deployed to monitor Liberia's 11th October presidential and legislative polls to see themselves as neutral and impartial umpires and ambassadors of democracy.

"As you get ready to deploy to various parts of the country, I wish to remind us about the distinction between running an election and observing an election and the need to show your best sides to all sides", the president told the observers at a special briefing at the City Hall in Monrovia on Friday, 8th October 2011. He emphasized that the elections are of tremendous interest, not only to ECOWAS but also to the international community and within the context of the regional organization's determined efforts to entrench democracy and good governance in West Africa.

The head of the ECOWAS Observation Mission, Professor Attahiru Jega, expressed appreciation to the Commission for his appointment and pledged the team will tackle the "assignment with all the seriousness it deserves". Also present at the briefing session were General Seth Obeng, ECOWAS Special Envoy to Liberia, Major General Mahamane Toure, ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security.

President Gbeho, who had earlier in the day visited the National Elections Commission of Liberia (NEC) where he presented Professor Jega to the NEC chair, Mr. James Fromayan, expressed confidence for violence-free, transparent, fair and credible elections. He appealed to all stakeholders to play according to the rules, noting that the level of tension had lowered and security beefed up with encouraging signs for a peaceful election process in Liberia which is emerging from the effects of a 14-year civil war.

President Gbeho, accompanied by General Obeng and Professor Jega, also visited the office of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), where Special Representative of the UN Secretary General, Madam Ellen Margarethe Løj, assured him of the UN system's readiness to support the electoral process. Liberia's last presidential elections, held in November 2005 following the country's protracted civil war, saw Mrs. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf emerge as Africa's first elected female President. She and 15 other candidates are contesting the 11th October polls whose outcome is critical for the consolidation of the gains made in Liberia and other ECOWAS Member States over the last decade in the entrenchment of peace, stability and good governance.

The ECOWAS observers will be deployed to different counties of Liberia for the poll monitoring exercise, in compliance with the Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, toward ensuring the conduct of free, transparent and credible elections.