THERE CAN BE no question that post-war Liberia has had numerous challenges since the August 2003 peace, the Comprehensive Accra Peace Accord, was established, but there can, equally, be no refutation that enormous gains have been made during this period. The greatest of them all has to be the nurturing and germination of democracy, expressed in the multiple back-to-back elections and the senatorial mid-term elections and other by-elections. This germination of democracy was only just experienced on Tuesday, November 16, 2021, in the four by-elections of Bomi, Bong, Nimba and Grand Gedeh counties.
ACCORDING TO THE National Elections Commission (NEC), a total of 122,581 registered voters were expected to vote in the by-elections in electoral district #2, Bong County, electoral district #1, Bomi County, electoral district #1, Grand Gedeh County, and electoral district #1, Nimba County. This numerical strength was matched by the NEC’s disclosure that voting in the four by-election counties got underway Tuesday under a peaceful atmosphere, with nearly all voting centers opening promptly at 8:00 a.m. The NEC said there was no report of any real incident of violence since the opening of polls at 8:00 a.m. in the by-election counties.
THE NEC HOWEVER explained that during the early morning hours there were some misunderstanding at the Faith International Center, with code number 15074, district #1, Grand Gedeh County. The situation, however, was quickly resolved and voting was resumed in that precinct.
THE COMMISSION, IN a statement issued Tuesday, November 16, 2021, encouraged all registered voters in Bong, Bomi, Grand Gedeh, and Nimba counties to continue to vote under the peaceful atmosphere. The NEC informed the public that counting of ballots would begin immediately after the close of polls at 6:00 p.m. Tuesday in the four counties. The peaceful conduct of the polling says the counting, tallying and announcing of results all promise to be peaceful. The Liberian people deserve to take pride in this most recent stride in the commitment to democracy.