Former President Goodluck Jonathan, who is co-leading the National
\nDemocratic Institute Election Observer group to the Liberian
\nPresidential election run-off election, and other leaders of the
\ndelegation have acclaimed the Boxing Day polls as peaceful, orderly
\nand well-organized.<\/p>\n
The National Democratic Institute (NDI) made this known today in its
\npreliminary statement issued in Monrovia on the December 26,
\nPresidential run-off.<\/p>\n
The delegation however stressed that official election results were
\nnot yet complete, and called on \u201cLiberian political parties and
\ncandidates to cooperate in good faith with the National Elections
\nCommission and for the results to be expeditiously released.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking of his experienced on the field on voting day, former
\nPresident Jonathan said: \u201cI am proud of Liberians, who have come from
\ncrisis to democracy and have shown themselves to be a model of peace
\nand stability in the region. Democracy goes beyond election day, and
\nif Liberia succeeds, West Africa succeeds, Africa succeeds, and the
\nworld succeeds.”<\/p>\n
Speaking in the same vein, Kosovo\u2019s former President Atifete Jahjaga,
\nsaid: \u201cThe NDI delegation would like to congratulate the people of
\nLiberia for exercising their right to vote and for making a historic
\nstep towards the consolidation of democracy in their country. It is my
\nhope that the positive trends that we have observed during this
\nelection will be sustained and further improved during future
\nelections.\u201d<\/p>\n
In noting that voting was peaceful, orderly and well-organized as
\nexecuted by trained polling officials, the preliminary statement also
\nhighlighted \u201caspects of voter participation, election administration,
\nwomen and youth participation and security.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NDI Liberia international election observer delegation included 36
\npolitical and civic leaders, elections experts and regional
\nspecialists from 18 countries across Africa, Europe and North America.
\nThe delegation’s leadership was as follows: Dr. Goodluck Ebele
\nJonathan, former President of Nigeria; Atifete Jahjaga, former
\nPresident of Kosovo; Hanna Tetteh, former Minister of Foreign Affairs
\nof Ghana; and Dr. Christopher Fomunyoh, Regional Director, NDI.<\/p>\n
The delegation\u2019s preliminary statement provides recommendations to the
\ngovernment of Liberia, the National Elections Commission, political
\nparties and candidates, security forces, civil society, the media, the
\ninternational community, as well as other stakeholders. The
\nrecommendations focus on reviewing legal framework, communicating
\ntimely and accurate information, promoting peace, improving women\u2019s
\nparticipation and continuing to engage citizens in the electoral
\nprocess.<\/p>\n
The institute has been observing the Liberian electoral process since
\nFebruary. NDI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to
\nsupporting and strengthening democratic institution worldwide through
\ncitizen participation, openness and accountability in government. Over
\nthe last 25 years, NDI has conducted more than 150 election
\nobservation missions in 62 countries. NDI first worked in Liberia in
\n1997. The Institute has maintained a permanent in-country office in
\nLiberia since 2003. Current NDI programs in Liberia, which include
\ntechnical assistance for voter education, citizen election monitoring,
\nwomen\u2019s participation and poll watching for all political parties, are
\nfunded by the United States Agency for International Development
\n(USAID).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","hentry","category-news","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"yoast_head":"\n