.... "So we can say to you that we are having our observers in fourteen counties of the country," he said, "and we were looking for the opening of the thirty-eight polling stations where we always have at least two observers there."
Andreas Schieder, European Union Election Observers Mission (EU- EOM) in Liberia, has praised the National Election Commission (NEC) poll workers for being well informed and trained in their work.
"It has been in some cases, where it was a little bit too late, less good but in general we can say from an organizational point of view the terms are working well and all the stations that we have seen are open and are running," he added.
Speaking at the University of Liberia (UL) with local journalists at the polling site, Schieder, who came with his Deputy Chief Observer Jarek Domanski and two other observers, said that they have been deployed in Monrovia with a team of eleven people to monitor the electoral process.
According to him, they also have seven members of the European Parliament, a diplomat and short term observers, totaling 100 people who are observing the election from the European Union.
He said the 100 EU Observers are deployed throughout the country, with twenty teams of observers working with the African Union (AU) and ECOWAS.
"So we can say to you that we are having our observers in fourteen counties of the country," he said, "and we were looking for the opening of the thirty-eight polling stations where we always have at least two observers there. We watched the opening of the thirty-eight cases and all we have to say, statistically, we have seen quite regular well-possessed elections from the opening, and some were a little bit delayed but most were on time."
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He further said that they have also noted a high level of participation in areas where they are deployed and can say that things are working well.
The chief observer continues by saying that his visit to liberia for the second time has made him understand the political and economic situations, the legal background, the rules for the elections in terms of financing the election, and how candidates are running.
Meanwhile, Schieder disclosed that they are also collecting their own information to present a press statement on Tuesday, October 17, 2023, regarding their findings on the elections.
In addition, he stated that they are closely monitoring Liberia because they have received reports of people losing their lives and getting injuries and have spoken with the police who are still conducting investigation.
"So, it is too early to make a complete judgment," he said, "but it is always moments of soreness that people are losing their lives because of the issues of violence simply about politics."
According to him, they are going to take the Liberian election very seriously -- which is why they came two months ahead to get all the information, observe all the violence, all the political discussions, the media, the reports, and the financial impact.
