Liberians will in 2017 hold historical presidential and district elections. The presidential election is described as historic because it will witness the incumbent president not being a candidate, and the possibility of the winner of that election coming from the opposition. It will also witness the transitioning from one living president to another, something that has not happened in Liberia since around 1944.
Political observers fear that this complete change in leadership in Liberia could lead to untold uncertainties which should be avoided particularly at a time when UNMIL would have significantly pulled out its military wing from Liberia. Therefore to ensure the holding of free fair and credible elections in Liberia come 2017, the Governance Commission has held and continues to hold a series of Policy Dialogues inviting Liberians from all levels of leadership including Cabinet Ministers, Lawmakers, political Parties, women and youth organizations, opinion leaders and civil society to discuss strategies geared toward strengthening the electoral process before 2017.
On Tuesday February 2, 2016, the Governance Commission held another Policy Dialogue on the topic “Strengthening the electoral management system with respect to enhancing civic and voter education”. The Dialogue was held at the Bella Casa Hotel in Sinkor. Political parties, civil society including youth and women groups’ representatives, government officials including lawmakers attended and actively participated in the discussions which followed the Presentation from the National Elections Commission, NEC. A number of questions have been asked and concerns raised in the public domain as to NEC’s preparations and plans for the 2017 elections. Some of these concerns include NEC’s preparation for voter and civic education, availability of election monitoring mechanisms to assure of fair and credible election results and the prevention of vote rigging, trained NEC staff in the field, among others.
NEC’s Deputy Executive Director for Program Attorney Nathan Garbie did a presentation on strengthening the electoral management system with respect to enhancing civic and voter education: a panacea to sustaining Liberia’s democracy”. The Presentation focused on efforts by NEC to hold free, fair, transparent and credible national elections. Such efforts include the creation of the civic and voter education (CVE) Section in 1996 in anticipation of the 1997 elections. NEC saw it fit to create the CVE Section based on the compelling need for voters to make informed and balanced electoral decision(s) while voting. Other objectives of the civic and voter education Section include: • To plan and organize programs geared toward public awareness for Liberians especially registered voters;• To increase public participation in elections; • To motivate Liberians who are of voting age to register and vote in every election;• To educate electorate on the polling steps and procedures including marking the ballotsADOPTED STRATEGIESAccording to Presenter Nathan Garbie, to ensure the scrupulous implementation of these objectives, the CVE Section with direct supervision from the Department of Programs, has undertaken several strategic programs and projects for the attainment of free, fair and transparent elections in Liberia. Among these are:1. Robust dissemination of Voter Information through the use of printed materials such as: posters, fliers, banners, billboards, stickers etc.;2. Public education through nation-wide regional consultations for local and traditional leaders, youth and students, women and disabled groups as well as CSOs, FBOs and CBOs, media, peer group among others;3. Development of a standardized Toolkit as an outcome of a baseline survey to be used in CVE programming;4. Deployment of Civic & Voter educators, town- criers, gender mobilizers and cultural troupes nation-wide;5. The hiring of services of civil society organizations (CSOs), faith based organizations (FBOs), and community based organizations (CBOs) to boost the effective delivery of civic & voter education messages; and6. Conduct special civic & voter education training for specialized groups and other categories of electorate.
ACHIEVEMENTS1. Successful Voter registration with more than fifty percent of the total population of Liberia registering to vote; in 2005 voter registration was put at 1.4 million and in 2011 at 1.7 million respectively;2. The 2011 polls were generally peaceful with a high turnout of 71.6 % in the elections;3. The voting procedures have been largely understood by electorate with appreciable level of invalid votes;4. Increased technical capacity of civic education service providers, through training and practice on how to deliver CVE contents;5. Free, fair, transparent and credible elections were achieved in 2005 and today that pace still continues.
CHALLENGES FACED SINCE 20051. Difficulties in the conduct of Voter Education for National referendum due to complexity of referendum issues coupled with low level of education of the population;2. Low turnout of voters in National Referendum, Presidential Election Run-Offs and various By-Elections conducted since 2005;3. Low capacity of some printing houses to produce quality CVE materials in a timely manner, and the insincerity of some CVE service providers to perform assigned tasks in the CVE delivery efforts;4. Limited infrastructures, including road and communication facilities which have and continue to hinder performance of CVE service providers;5. Threats and attacks on CVE service providers in political hotbed communities have also affected service delivery;6. Shifting/trucking of the voting population from one point to another by potential candidates during voter registration process negatively impacted voter turnout;7. NEC being over-burden with civic duties due to lack of National Civic Education Commission;8. Low level motivation among the voting populace;9. Inadequate funding to underwrite critical electoral activities;10. Certain cultural practices;
CONCLUSIONAccording to the Presenter Attorney Nathan Garbie, NEC recommends the strengthening of the electoral management system, and enhancing of civic and voter education as a panacea for sustaining our electoral democracy. Attorney Garbie maintained that judgment on the success of the electoral process should be based on:1. The peacefulness and understanding of reason(s) of and behind the process;2. The degree of participation & inclusiveness of the process;3. Transparency and accessibility of the process; 4. The fearless announcement of the expressed will of the people by the election monitoring baseline (EMB) and;5. The overall confidence of the electorate in the process.Attorney Garbie concluded by urging all stakeholders and partners including political parties, CSOs, CBOs & FBOs to be committed to performing their roles and functions in the electoral process. Garbie noted that successful election is the collective responsibility of all citizens, and to some extent the international community, adding “we all need to play our roles well”.In opening remarks, Dr. Amos Sawyer urged political parties in Liberia to contribute to efforts aimed at assuring peaceful credible elections come 2017. He noted that since 2003, efforts to enhance unity among Liberians as contributed to by everyone including security protection and the future we have perceived for ourselves will all go down the drain with one wrong move in the 2017 elections if its results became overly controversial or considered not credible. The 2017 elections are historic in that Liberia will witness an incumbent president that will not be a candidate in the elections. “Liberia has not witnessed the retirement of a president since 1944. Such transitions could give birth to untold uncertainties.” Dr. Sawyer noted that the only way to address such uncertainties is to perform in accordance to well- known rules and levels of efficiencies. He urged Dialogue participants to begin to think about ways in which we can help the National Elections Commission (NEC) prepare, particularly with the view of voter education and broader civic education to ensure a greater level of efficiency within the electoral body and system. Judging from past experiences, people tend to speculate and question election results when they lack adequate information about the electoral process. Sawyer pointed out that “people respond to events on the basis of their perception so we want to ensure that we have an understanding and do our work well so that the Liberian electorate would be fully knowledgeable and feel an important part of the electoral process.” Grand Bassa County Senator Jonathan Kaipay pledge the Legislature’s support to NEC to ensure that the Commission meets its constitutional responsibility to holding free, fair, transparent and credible elections in 2017. The President of the National Council of Civil Society Organizations Frances Greaves also pledge the Council’s and membership support to NEC and the electoral process.