Liberia voter roll update ends with fraud claims ahead of senatorial elections

A voter roll update that began in September has been a subject of political tension in Liberia as the country prepares for midterm elections next month (December 2020). The main opposition, Coalition of Political Parties (CPP), says non-Liberians were brought in from neighbouring Sierra Leone to register as voters in collusion with electoral officials. An independent observer group named Elections Coordinating Committee (ECC) has also expressed such concerns, and cases have been widely reported in the local press.

For example, there have been reports that senatorial candidates are ‘trucking’ people from other parts of Liberia to register in districts where the candidates are running for office. This refers to a practice where a candidate tries to inflate the voter roll in their constituency with voters who will be paid to vote for the candidate.

The CPP has asked the Supreme Court to compel the National Electoral Commission (NEC) to sanitise the voter roll – for instance, to remove duplicates and verify eligibility. It planned street protests to emphasise its demands, but shelved the plan after religious leaders mediated in the dispute and experts from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) arrived to assist the electoral commission in reviewing the voter data.

Significance - Political Norms

The voter roll has long been prone to fraud and therefore a recurrent source of electoral dispute. The electoral law was amended in 2014 to prevent this – for instance, one revision states that a Liberian can only register to vote in a county where ‘he or she ordinarily resides’ and in 2017 the Supreme Court instructed NEC to sanitise the voter roll after a presidential candidate disputed the election results then. The 2014 reforms have not been effective due to institutional weakness and the sanitisation has still not happened; partly because NEC lacks the technical capacity.

Despite its mineral and marine resources, and 17 years of peace, Liberia’s GDP per capita remains among the lowest in West Africa and the country is still recovering from civil strife. Many Liberians are disillusioned about democracy and are inclined to sell votes for immediate pecuniary benefit because they do not believe that they have benefitted from votes cast in the past for no pay.

Conclusion - Look to 2023

NEC’s resources have been stretched this year. These upcoming senatorial elections and a national referendum should have been held in October, but they were postponed to December due to financial constraints and the pandemic. Cleaning up the voter roll increases NEC’s burden and at this stage is unlikely to be adequately done no matter the level of commitment. That will put in question the credibility of the polls. The stakes will be even higher in 2023 when presidential elections are next scheduled to take place. Engagement by the diplomatic community, including ECOWAS, as well as support for domestic and regional civil society groups such as ECC will be important risk mitigants.

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