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Liberia election underway
30/04/2004 12:14 - (SA)
Monrovia - Liberian transitional leader Charles Gyude Bryant has sworn in commissioners of the restructured National Elections Commission at a ceremony at the presidential mansion in Monrovia.
The seven-member commission is headed by former supreme court judge Frances Johnson-Morris.
Other members include Liberian Women's Initiative president Mary Brownell, former Female Lawyers Association president Elizabeth Bornyennoh, former senator James Chelley, university lecturer James Fromoyan and veteran administrator Soko Sackor.
Chelley and Brownell were members of an electoral commission appointed by former president Charles Taylor, who resigned in August and went into exile in Nigeria, paving the way for a peace pact for the country, which has been wracked by near-continuous war since late 1989.
Bryant heads the interim government set up in October last year under the peace pact and tasked with guiding the country, Africa's oldest black republic, to elections by the end of next year.
An important step
Inducting the election officials, Bryant reminded them that "whatever work has been done can be easily derailed and indeed destroyed if a democratically elected government does not succeed this transitional government.
"We must acknowledge that free and fair elections are an important step to democracy, and free and fair elections are not possible without strong and credible referees and a transparent electoral process," he said.
Speaking on behalf of the newly inducted officials, chairperson Johnson-Morris assured that they would be "courageous in taking the necessary steps that will serve the interest of the Liberian people over the interest of any individual or groups of individuals."
She then ordered presidential hopefuls whose portraits are already posted on public buildings to remove them within 48 hours, as campaigning for the elections has not been declared open.
The elections commission is one of five commissions endorsed by the August peace pact, signed in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, by Taylor's former government and rebels fighting it, and aimed at restoring stability and promoting reconciliation in Liberia.
The others are the Truth and Reconciliation, Good Governance, National Human Rights, and Contracts and Monopolies Commissions.
- AFP
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