By Lewis S Teh
Following the official announcement for a runoff election by the National Elections Commission (NEC), the standard bearer of the opposition African Liberation League (ALL) Rev. Sarah Beysolow Nyanti, is urging the NEC Board of Commissioners to do all in its power to protect and strengthen the electoral integrity of votes that will be cast during the runoff on 14 November.
Reverend Nyanti, a former UN resident coordinator and of the Presidential Candidate from 10 October election, is taking a proactive stance in galvanizing political parties to work together to ensure that Liberia’s upcoming run-off election will be peaceful and characterized by transparency and integrity.
It may be recalled that prior to the first polling, she initiated and brought together over 15 opposition politicians and they signed a MOU to protect and safeguard the votes of Liberians.
The MOU, which was signed on August 28, 2023, had nine points of agreement, including the need for joint poll watching, data collection and analysis, safeguarding and protection of votes among others.
The ALL political leader believes such collaboration is critical to increase voters’ confidence, noting that the high number of invalid votes and numerous irregularities observed during the first round are sufficient reasons for collective efforts in protecting electorate votes during the runoff.
She recently met opposition parties that signed the MOU, including political leaders, key actors of the CDC and the UP, two parties are headed for the runoff.
“The heart of democracy lies in the sanctity and accuracy of the voting process; every Liberian deserves the assurance that their vote, their voice, is counted without compromise,” Nyanti underscored.
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She notes this is about the rights of Liberians to choose their leader, which is a human rights agenda, and all need to work together to build voters’ confidence, as something that is critical for sustainable peace and development.
Nyanti’s engagements in the coming days will be with NEC, the ECC, the Women Situation Room, and the international community.
She stresses that more collaboration prevents voter apathy, discontent and frustrations as well as potential conflict during and after the runoff.
She restates her recommendations to NEC to urgently convene all candidates to discuss lessons learned from Round 1 that will improve implementation of Round 2, as well as ensure that a full system and performance audit of the 2023 elections is conducted to inform electoral reforms.
