The Elections Commission must Listen More and Talk Less

PROBABLY OVERWHELMED BY either the instinct of self-defense or the zealousness to please its political bosses, the National Elections Commission (NEC) has of late joined the public talking shop, trading damnations and vituperations with political party executives and civil society representatives. Whatever the stimulants of NEC's loquacity in the last few days, this critical democratic appendix of Liberia's post-conflict multiplex has drifted suddenly and sadly from its traditional nature of being independent and impartial umpire of Liberia's political or electoral playing field. Knowingly or unknowingly, the Elections Commission is making itself an active player and protagonist in the political marketplace, compromising its sanctity and further crediting critics' views that it is nothing but a partisan commission.

OR ARE WE RECOMMENDING that the NEC should remain gagged under the onslaught of “damaging” verbal attacks and “falsehood”? No. Or are we suggesting that the NEC adopts the toothless bulldog posture? No. All we are saying is that the response of a non-partisan NEC should not sound as thought it were an opposition political party responding to a rival contender. Its reaction to public criticisms must reflect a high degree of maturity and not a pedigree of an activist or partisan group clad in sheer belligerence and loath. When the NEC brands critics, who represent political parties and the civil society, as “ignorant”; when it calls on critics to “go and learn more,” and when it leaves the substantive issues and hoots out sheer anger and verbosity, then the suspecting members of the public become perplexed over the neutrality credentials of the Commission. More besides, it gives the political parties and the larger Liberian public the impression the Commission losing sight of its nature and status as an impartial umpire of the political landscape.

THE NEC NEEDS not forget that, despites its appointment emanating from the President of Liberia, it owes its birth, life and relevance to the political parties and civil society of Liberia. It was born out of the womb of the civil society to facilitate the country's democratic revival. Its role as a facilitator does not in any way make the NEC a demigod on the electoral landscape or a saint immune to reproach. It exists because there exist political parties that periodically or intermittently participate in election activities.

AS A FACILITATOR of the political playing field, the Elections Commission doesn't necessarily feel the pinches and see the fouls on the playing feel. They players do. It is therefore its cardinal responsibility to react to claims and counterclaims as twin mother, an impartial referee. It must talk less and listen more. It is by this posture of maturity that will assure skeptics and cynics that the NEC is indeed up to the volatile task of superintending the electoral landscape. Surely, Liberians people and the international community want to trust and depend upon the NEC for the judicial handling of political and electoral maters. But the people won't except the Commission earns its respect and admiration on the platter of demonstrated maturity and neutrality.