– Liberian presidential election results to be announced on Oct. 26
– 150 ECOWAS observers to monitor Liberian presidential elections
Barely some hours to the conduct of Liberia’s presidential and legislative elections, the government has announced the closure of the country’s land borders.
Both elections are scheduled to hold on Oct. 11 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Col. Chris Massaquoi, Immigration Commissioner, Bureau of Immigration and Naturalisation, made the announcement on Monday in Monrovia on Liberia State Television (LTV).
He said: “Let us make this very clear. We have not done this to instill fear in any citizen.
“There is every reason for us to institute those measures to protect our territorial borders and our citizens in order to avoid any disruption during the electoral exercise.
“Stringent security inspections will be carried out at all inland borders during the election period. ’’
Massaquoi said the closure of the borders was necessitated by the utterances of some politicians on the likelihood of distractions from neighbouring countries.
Liberia shares an extensive, porous and volatile border with Guinea, Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire.
Western border, shared with Cote d’Ivoire, was a major route for arms trafficking and the movement of mercenaries during the Ivorian political crisis.
The UN Mission in Cote d’Ivoire (ONUCI) and the UN mission in Liberia (UNMIL) have been working together to improve security around the border.
The final results of Liberia’s presidential and legislative elections will be announced on Oct. 26.
Both elections will hold on Oct. 11.
Mr James Fromoyan, Chairman Liberia National Electoral Commission (NEC) announced this on Monday in Monrovia in a broadcast monitored on Liberian national television (LTV).
He says results will be announced from Wednesday as they come in, but the final results will be announced on Oct. 26.
He said all was set for the conduct of the elections, which already had 16 presidential candidates vying for the presidential palace.
The top contenders are President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (Unity Party), Winston Tubman (Congress for Democratic Change) and his running mate George Opong Weah and Charles Brumshire (Liberty Party).
They were among the top five in the 2005 first round elections.
“Liberia’s upcoming elections have largely been viewed as a test of the willingness of Liberians to fully commit to democracy and the deepening of good governance after 14 years of civil war.’’
The NEC chairman said 1.8 million voters had been registered for the elections.
He said the voters would also cast their votes for the election of candidates to the 73 seats in the lower house and 15 junior Senators.
He said voting would take place in 1,780 voting precincts and 4,457 polling places across the country.
Fromoyan said officers of the Liberia National Police, Bureau of Immigration and Naturalisation, the Liberian Red Cross and the United Nations Mission in Liberia peace keepers would provide security at all the polling centres.
“A high beam Internet V-SAT device has been installed at various magisterial offices for speedy transfer of results from voting centres to NEC headquarters in Monrovia.’’
Peace eventually returned to Liberia in August 2003 after 14 years of civil war in which about 250,000 people died.
In 2005, the war-ravaged country, conducted its first post-war democratic elections, which was supervised by the U.N.
During that election, Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf, a Harvard-trained economist and a former World Bank staff, emerged as the nation’s new president, beating other rivals, among them, world’s football star, Weah.
Johnson-Sirleaf was sworn into office on Jan. 16, 2006, at the age of 67 years.
At 72, Johnson-Sirleaf, is standing for re-election in the Oct. 11 presidential election, apparently going against her earlier pledge in 2006 to serve only a single term.
Explaining her change of mind sometimes in June during a news conference, the president said she wanted to consolidate on the gains of the last six years, adding that there had also been some local and international pressures on her to run again.
Political analysts listed sustenance of peace and stability, economic and social development as some of the notable achievements recorded by the president during her first tenure in office.
Women’s increased participation in partisan politics, international debt forgiveness for Liberia were also listed as other achievements made by the president.
But her critics and political opponents argued that high rate of unemployment, poverty, decayed infrastructure and corruption were on the ascendency during her first tenure in office.
Nonetheless, Johnson-Sirleaf has gone down into history as Africa’s first female president and this sentiment has continually attracted much international goodwill and support for the 164-year-old republic.
A total of 150 observers from various countries have been pooled by ECOWAS to monitor the Liberian presidential elections on Tuesday.
Amb. Victor Gbeho, Chairman of ECOWAS Commission, announced this on Monday in Monrovia at a pre-election news conference.
He said the Liberian presidential and legislative elections would be a test of “political maturity and sophistication’’.
“The elections will be a real test of the process of further deepening democratic progress and national reconciliation after the return to civilian rule in Liberia.
“ I wish to appeal to the sense of responsibility of all Liberians to ensure peaceful, free, fair and transparent elections.
“Any act of violence or manipulation of the electoral process can only jeopardise the democratic intentions of the state and its citizens and will not serve the general interest of Liberians.’’
ECOWAS Chairman, President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria, had earlier announced support for the elections.
The Nigerian government had in September donated 10 Toyota Double Cabin pickup vans, 30 computers and two photocopiers to the Liberian electoral commission to support the country’s presidential elections.