AU, ECOWAS mission end pre-election fact-finding in Liberia

A Joint Pre-election fact-finding mission deployed to Liberia ahead of the country’s Presidential and Legislative elections by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU) today ended its exercise.

The mission, which began from Sunday 23rd to 29th July, 2023, is to assess the country’s state of preparedness for the polls slated for 10th October, 2023.

A statement copied to the Ghana News Agency said the Mission was co-led by Professor Attahiru Jega, former Chairman of the Independent Nigerian Electoral Commission, for ECOWAS, and Ambassador Calixte Mbari, Head of Democracy, Elections and Constitutionalism of the AU Commission.

Other members of the Mission are Ambassador Haja Alari Cole, member of the ECOWAS Council of the Wise, Mrs. Jean Mensa, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Ghana, and Mr. Elyse Ouedraogo, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission of Burkina Faso,The rest are Mr Muhammad Sulaiman Isa, Deputy Ambassador of Nigeria to ECOWAS, Dr CyriaqueAgnekethom, ECOWAS Director of Peacekeeping and Regional Security.

It also has a joint technical team from the ECOWAS and AU Commissions.
The statement said the joint delegation held working sessions with stakeholders in the electoral process in Liberia, including the Government, National Elections Commission, the Judiciary, Parliament, Political Parties, Civil Society Organizations, Security Agencies and International Development Partners.

It said the Mission would submit a comprehensive report that would inform the support of ECOWAS and AU to the 2023 electoral process in Liberia.

It said both organisations also provided similar support to the country during its last elections in 2017.

The upcoming election would be Liberia’s fifth set of general elections since the end of the second civil war.

Per the calendar from the election management body, the month of August is slated for the presidential and parliamentary campaigns, to be followed by the publishing of the final list of candidates and replacement of lost and damaged voter registration cards.