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supported the fact that our staff was also challenged. Prior to
the conduct of these elections the Commission taking queued
from these election voters registration were staffs hire by the
Commission in carrying out the function. We wrote other stake
holders requesting assistance from professional Liberians. To
name just a few, we wrote the Ministry of Education, we wrote
the Association of Female Lawyers. We wrote the National Bar
Association of Liberian requesting assistance in providing
professional Liberians to help in the conduct of these elections
on Elections Day. This is also the practice in most electoral
jurisdiction where you have senior citizens volunteering on
Elections Day to support the process. Unfortunately we got
respond from only the Angie Brooks Randolph institute and as
the result of political manipulation there were rumors being
spread wide and far that Chairman Kokoyah had intended to
create fraud in the process by bringing in presiding officers.
And in order to satisfy those doubts, about three hundred
names that were submitted by Angie Brooks Institute were
withdrawn. So basically we went to the polls with those
Liberians who were available. Those Liberians who were not the
most qualify but who availed themselves to partake in the
conduct of the October 10, 2017 election. Monitoring reports
and even our own observation clearly states that staffs at our
centers were challenged. They had difficulties in directing
voters to their assigned rooms; they had difficulties in finding
voters names on the final voter's rolls in their polling stations.
As a result of that this cause uncomfortable situation with some
voters. This leads voters to be weary. These causes brought
about congestion and delayed. But notwithstanding, over 75
percent of the 2.1 million voters turned out and voted on
October 10, 2017.”
The above testimony of witness Leighe attempted to refute that the
polls opened late, and that there were no queue controllers to direct
voters on the requisite queues, but he did acknowledge that there were
some problems which he blamed on the fact that voters had turned out
much earlier than expected and hence that the NEC workers had not been
deployed. In fact, the witness acknowledged that this created difficulties
in finding voters’ names on the FRR; that voters became weary due to the
congestion and delayed. The question is to what extent did such somnolent
posture of the voters affected their right to vote, especially in the face of
allegations that many voters could not vote due to these challenges.