Monrovia — Unity Party (UP) Political Leader, Joseph N. Boakai says the current composition of the National Elections Commission (NEC) is not representative of the people's interest and should therefore be scrapped and replaced by a competent and partisan free NEC to prepare for 2023 general and presidential elections.
Amb. Boakai said that the country has come through so much and cannot continue to trade peace with a disorderly election, while at the same time asking the United Nations, the United States of America, the European Union, the African Union, and ECOWAS to ensure the future of Liberia.
Said Amb. Boakai, "The Unity Party and its allies are convinced that the current Elections Commission is not representative of the people's interest and should therefore be scrapped and replaced by a competent and partisan-free NEC to prepare for 2023 general and presidential elections"
Amb. Boakai also raised concerns over the manner in which the just-ended Lofa County by-election was conducted, stating that the UP legal team will be communicating with the National Election Commission to establish its final position on the process.
According to Amb. Boakai, the Unity Party's technical team observed some discrepancies in the results posted on NEC's website and the ones announced by the Commission.
Amb. Boakai further stated that to ensure transparency, election results should be disaggregated to enable the key stakeholders to obtain comprehensive information regarding the process.
"The bulk result announced by the NEC is a clear indication that there was something going on that was unusual. This is made more evident by the fact that the commission has up to fifteen days to announce the result. That is sufficient to make the announcement in detail as to polling place and a number of votes per candidate," Boakai said.
He added, "We are greatly troubled by the NEC statement that there were attempts to hack its website beginning on the 30th of June when as a matter of fact the results of the election were announced after this date. Was the hacking successful? Or was there any hacking at all? These are legitimate questions that we asked in light of all the things that have been done in these elections. We submit to you, fellow Liberians, that what was posted by the Commission on its website was the product of NEC itself and these efforts are geared towards changing the results of the election."
Amb. Boakai further indicated that malpractices were also a result of NEC's failure to inform the public of the voter roll which was intended to allow interested parties to observe several things, that include names that were left out of the roll that should be there, names that were posted that should not be there, duplicated names, names without photographs or clear identification.
He indicated that results from some canters, including Foya Market Hall were doubled which created more votes per candidate than the total number of registered voters.
According to him, results posted by NEC also had candidates Joseph Kpator Jallah and Mariamu Fofana names appearing twice, with candidates who contested in previous elections including Some candidates from 2020 and 2011 were also listed.
Said Boakai, "The publication of the final voter roll on the eve of the elections means that there was no time to make corrections or to authenticate the roll. We see this as an abuse of power. It is the use of government authority with impurity, in order to put the opposition in a disadvantageous position since manipulation of the roll is made easier when no time is allowed for proper inspection."
The UP Political Leader alleged that NEC officials were selective in allowing voters without voter registration cards to vote something that resulted in the inflation of the number of votes and made the elections unfair in at least thirty percent of the polling places.
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"We cannot list all of the many data-related glitches that we have uncovered here. These two deliberate violations stated above clearly cast doubts on the validity of the results announced by the National Elections Commission and undermine the sanctity, credibility and integrity of the votes cast in Lofa County on June 28, 2022. "
"Unity Party and her allies take these many violations seriously as they have the effect of NEC selecting a Senator of Lofa County. How insulting to Lofa County!!! The people of Lofa county deserve better than an irregular and mistake-prone process presided over by National Elections Commission. Over and over, we have questioned the credibility and capacity of this NEC to conduct free and fair elections in Liberia. Their open display of partisanship is also a troubling matter. We do not believe that the Commission as currently constituted can hold credible elections in Liberia in 2023."
