Liberia: Voters Complain of Slow Process

President George Weah, left, former vice president Joseph Boakai, right (file photo).

Despite the massive turnout of voters in Montserrado County and other parts of Liberia, many of the voters at several polling places have complained about the ineffectiveness of staff of the National Elections Commission (NEC) which they believe has made the voting process slow.

The ineffectiveness or slow pace of the process was seen at various polling centers in Montserrado County and other parts of the country. The situation caused many voters to leave the centers with uncertain decisions to either return later or forget about the entire process.

Some of the voters at the various centers who are willing to tolerate the delay found seats for themselves while in the queue. "We are tired; the people are very slow here. I have been here for more than one hour but the line is not even moving," Mamie Logan, a pregnant woman who spent several hours at a polling center in District#11 told the TNR Newspaper.

The electoral process commenced few minutes after 8:00AM at voting centers across the country with massive turnout as reported by our correspondents across the country. As expected, the elections are being reacted to with high interest. Unfortunately, it has been met with a little discouragement that has changed the minds of some of the voters who vowed to abstain from the process due to the slowness of the process.

The elections are being held under the watch of the joint security, political party observers, local and international observers as well as local and international media organizations.

As part of efforts to ensure that the elections are fair, credible and transparent, the National Elections Commission (NEC) Chairperson, Davidetta Browne Lassanah earlier disclosed that the Commission certified about 662 international observers and 5,981 local observers which amounts to 6,643 observers.

The European Union Election Observation Mission to Liberia on Saturday, September 9, 2023, deployed a team of forty long-Term Observers across the fifteen political sub-divisions of Liberia. The European Union Election Observation Mission to Liberia is charged with mandate to observe all aspects of the electoral process and assess the extent to which the elections comply with international and regional commitments for elections as well as with the laws of Liberia.

Liberians voted in a Presidential and Legislative Elections yesterday to either retain or remove incumbent President M. Weah, a former World Best Footballer of the Year who has been in office for six years as President of Liberia.

His main challenger, former Vice President Boakai who served under Liberia and Africa's first female President, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is seeking revenge after being flogged by Mr. Weah in 2017 Presidential and Legislative Elections. Weah came to power based on his popularity with the youth mostly football lovers.

The incumbent President is being hugely supported by the youthful population which constitutes at least 60 percent of the nation's population. His main rival, Boakai, 78, draws his support from the older group of Liberians who prefer his self-proclaimed honesty and his desire to fight corruption.

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