Former President Goodluck Jonathan, who is co-leading the National
Democratic Institute Election Observer group to the Liberian
Presidential election run-off election, and other leaders of the
delegation have acclaimed the Boxing Day polls as peaceful, orderly
and well-organized.
The National Democratic Institute (NDI) made this known today in its
preliminary statement issued in Monrovia on the December 26,
Presidential run-off.
The delegation however stressed that official election results were
not yet complete, and called on “Liberian political parties and
candidates to cooperate in good faith with the National Elections
Commission and for the results to be expeditiously released.”
Speaking of his experienced on the field on voting day, former
President Jonathan said: “I am proud of Liberians, who have come from
crisis to democracy and have shown themselves to be a model of peace
and stability in the region. Democracy goes beyond election day, and
if Liberia succeeds, West Africa succeeds, Africa succeeds, and the
world succeeds.”
Speaking in the same vein, Kosovo’s former President Atifete Jahjaga,
said: “The NDI delegation would like to congratulate the people of
Liberia for exercising their right to vote and for making a historic
step towards the consolidation of democracy in their country. It is my
hope that the positive trends that we have observed during this
election will be sustained and further improved during future
elections.”
In noting that voting was peaceful, orderly and well-organized as
executed by trained polling officials, the preliminary statement also
highlighted “aspects of voter participation, election administration,
women and youth participation and security.”
The NDI Liberia international election observer delegation included 36
political and civic leaders, elections experts and regional
specialists from 18 countries across Africa, Europe and North America.
The delegation’s leadership was as follows: Dr. Goodluck Ebele
Jonathan, former President of Nigeria; Atifete Jahjaga, former
President of Kosovo; Hanna Tetteh, former Minister of Foreign Affairs
of Ghana; and Dr. Christopher Fomunyoh, Regional Director, NDI.
The delegation’s preliminary statement provides recommendations to the
government of Liberia, the National Elections Commission, political
parties and candidates, security forces, civil society, the media, the
international community, as well as other stakeholders. The
recommendations focus on reviewing legal framework, communicating
timely and accurate information, promoting peace, improving women’s
participation and continuing to engage citizens in the electoral
process.
The institute has been observing the Liberian electoral process since
February. NDI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to
supporting and strengthening democratic institution worldwide through
citizen participation, openness and accountability in government. Over
the last 25 years, NDI has conducted more than 150 election
observation missions in 62 countries. NDI first worked in Liberia in
1997. The Institute has maintained a permanent in-country office in
Liberia since 2003. Current NDI programs in Liberia, which include
technical assistance for voter education, citizen election monitoring,
women’s participation and poll watching for all political parties, are
funded by the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID).