THE NUMERICALLY SUCCESSFUL and October 10, 2023-pointing re-nomination of President George Manneh Weah has run into sharp critique from stakeholders to the nation’s democracy. The Elections Coordinating Committee (ECC) says it has observed that the Saturday, February 4, 2023 political rally organized by the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) is a campaign activity and is a flagrant violation of Section 12 of the National Elections Commission’s Regulation on the conduct of political parties and coalitions. “The rally was characterized by wearing T-shirts and printing banners depicting the picture of the President when the official campaign period outlined in the election timeline has not started,” the ECC said. According to the ECC, NEC’s revised 2023 electoral calendar puts the period for the presidential and legislative campaign to August 5 to October 8, 2023, hence the election body terms the Saturday exercise a violation which undercuts the principle of a “level playing field”, required for the conduct of a fair and credible election.
“THE ECC FURTHER observed that days leading to the rally the CDC erected billboards that displayed the picture of the President in various parts of Monrovia, but the National Elections Commission (NEC) has failed to take any action in keeping with Section 12 of its regulation. The failure of the NEC to enforce its regulation sets a dangerous precedence and undermines its neutrality as an independent Election Management Body (EMB),” the ECC said Monday in a press release.
THE ELECTIONS COORDINATING Committee (ECC), Liberia’s largest domestic election observation network with diverse competencies, experiences and expertise in democracy, election and governance, had earlier condemned pre-campaigning activities by political parties and aspirants ahead of the National Elections Commission’s campaign period outlined in its revised electoral timeline. The ECC had called on the NEC to enforce the rules and regulations related to pre-campaigning activities.
“PRE-ELECTIONS CAMPAIGN is an offense against the election timeline,” the election body had observed, “it disrupts the level-playing field for other candidates and also brings about provocation because others who observe the rules of elections are not given the opportunity to reach out to their people like the violators. Pre-election campaigning could also lay the foundation for election violence, which the National Elections Commission (NEC) and its democracy stakeholders are doing everything to avoid.