The Election Coordination Committee, the Liberia Election Observation Network and the West Africa Network for Peace are calling on voters in the Nimba County Senatorial By – Election to conduct themselves in a peaceful manner in the election and even after the result is announced.
A their first pre – election press conference held in the Ganta on April 21, 2025, the election observatory groups said in their opening statement said on April 22, 2025, eligible voters in Nimba County will participate in the senatorial by – election and the outcome is contingent upon the maintenance of a peaceful democratic state.
“Therefore. We from the ECC< LEON and WANEP urge the citizens of Nimba to disregard historical grievances and the pursuit of political power and conduct themselves in a peaceful manner during the election and even after the announcement is announced,” said the groups of observers working from one situation room in Ganta.
According to the groups, they are deploying 88 short term observers and 13 supervisors and coordination to observe and report on the election day process, including the observation of the set – up and opening of the polls as well as voting, counting and tallying procedures, warning all observers from posting any election related matter in the social media page and also avoid speaking to press.
The groups explained that the seven candidates, including a female candidate in the election, value the democratic principles of equal participation and fair election and encourage the participation of more women in future elections.
Nimba have over 307k eligible voters and one of the populous counties in Liberia, something the ECC, LEON and WANEP described the by – election as highly competitive, raising concern about ethnic politics, divisive statements by some candidates that heighten political tension and potentially undermine the peace and stability of the county.
“We call on all candidates and supporters to remain law -abiding on election day,” said the statement read by Malcolm W. Joseph, ECC Chairperson.
The observatory groups also commended the National Election Commission and other stakeholders for positively engaging the voters and citizens through dialogues and carefully selecting some of the hotspots in Nimba to support peaceful exchanges between actors, especially political parties and independent candidate representatives, local county authorities and among others.
They also comment on the Liberia National Police for organizing a Joint Task Force on election which had increasing security present in the county for the election.
However, the three groups added that during the observation of pre – election processes such as campaign and political debates, observers/early warning monitors did not record any major incident of violence but documented and few instances, including messages aired and provocative remarks by some candidates and their supporters.
The groups reported on an incident in Gborplay or April 4, 2025, where candidate Edith Weh and her team were allegedly chased by youth believed to be Samuel Kogar supporters and despite the incident there had been no complaints of defacement and removal of campaign postal or banners.
Meanwhile, the joint observers are calling candidates or actors in the senatorial by – elections to uphold their recommitment to the Farmington Declaration signed on April 15, 2025, in Ganta and VAWie protocol signed on February 18, 2022, which prohibit violence against women during election and politics.
However, the election atmosphere continues to be very peaceful across Nimba as supporters of the main contenders, Kogar and Edith cross their fingers to claim victory.
Nimba have over 260 precincts 700 polling places, many might wonder whether the over 100 Observers deployed by ECC, LEON and WANEP will be able to properly monitor the election process in all the polling places, but the team said all appropriate measures have been put in place for effective monitoring.
