Graphic -- The Liberian Country Director of the International Republican Institute(IRI), a non-profit organisation dedicated to advancing democracy worldwide,Mr Xav Hagen, has commended Ghana for her immense contribution to the success of the recent elections in Liberia.
According to him, stakeholders in the Liberian elections were fortunate to understudy the Ghanaian electoral system and processes which he described as excellent.
Mr Hagen,who is in the country at the invitation of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA),made the commendation when he briefed the press in Accra last Friday on reflections on the Liberian elections.
?Coming out of 25 years of political turmoil, wars and lack of political institutions, Ghana offered a very good example for Liberians to emulate which really helped tremendously?,he said.
He said political party executives,members of the National Electoral Commission (NEC),civil society organisations, among other organisations in Liberia began coming to Ghana to learn the processes just before Ghana undertook the registration exercise.
He said the group were marvelled at the tried and tested processes which included the photo identity card,register with photos of voters,code of conduct for political parties,participation of civil society groups in the process,Inter Party Advisory Committee (IPAC),party representatives at polling stations and regulations on the process.
Mr Hagen said the group unanimously agreed that the NEC incorporated and implemented the processes which it did, and culminated in the peaceful elections.
He said despite few cases of sporadic problems,the exercise was generally free and fair and the candidate chosen was the people?s choice.
According to Mr Hagen,most of the problems were due to the 21 candidates on a single ballot paper for electorates most of whom were illiterates.
Touching on the fragile security situation in the country,he said Liberians were tired of the protracted war which devastated the country and would not want to go back to the situation.
Mr Hagen said the next president of Liberia should make unity and government of inclusion its topmost priority and also fast-track economic reforms to ensure that the people had employment.
He appealed to the international community to increase their assistance to the government and people of Liberia so that they could reconstruct their country.
He urged Liberians to exercise restraint in their demands for improvement because it would take a while for the reform to be realised because the destruction was done in a long period.
The Director of Governance Unit of the IEA,Mr Kwesi Jonah,urged Ghanaians to jealously guard the process and improve upon it.
