Monrovia, Liberia- In an effort to assure Liberian a free, fair, credible and transparent elections in the country, the former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC ) of Nigeria, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has arrived in the country as Head of the ECOWAS Election Observation Mission.
Prof. Attahiru Jega who served as Commissioner for the INEC of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015, arrived in the country on Monday 2 October 2023, and was welcomed by Ambassador Josephine Nkrumah, ECOWAS Resident Representative to Liberia.
While in Liberia, the former INEC boss will lead the short-term ECOWAS Election Observation Mission (EOM) for the Liberian presidential, Senatoral and parliamentary elections scheduled for Tuesday 10 October 2023.
During his stay, the Head of the ECOWAS EOM and his team will hold working sessions with different stakeholders, including the National Elections Commission (NEC), government, Civil Society organisations, the media, security agencies, as well as political parties and candidates, in order to ensure the smooth conduct of the electoral process.
An estimated 2,471,617 voters out of Liberia’s population of 5.4 million are expected to elect their new President of Liberia, fifteen (15) Senators and seventy-three (73) members of the House of Representatives.
In accordance with the provisions of the Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance relating to the observation of elections and ECOWAS assistance, the West African Organisation has deployed a 95-member election observation mission, comprising 80 short-term observers and 17 long-term observers.
The ECOWAS short-term observers are drawn from the ECOWAS Council of the Wise, the ECOWAS Parliament and the Community Court of Justice, Member States’ Ministries of Foreign Affairs, electoral management bodies and civil society organisations.
The role of the West African election observation mission deployed to Liberia is to monitor all pre-electoral, electoral and post-electoral phases of the election, to ensure Liberian and partners that the electoral process complies with international best practice.
Reported by: Joseph Kerkula
Contact: 07773 76826
