United Nations Peacebuilding Commission Press Statement on Liberia

1.  On 14 November 2022, the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) convened a meeting on Liberia, chaired by the Permanent Representative of Sweden to the United Nations, with the participation of the Foreign Minister and the Minister of Internal Affairs of Liberia, the co-Chair of the National Elections Commission (NEC), a civil society representative from Liberia, as well as senior UN officials, including the Resident Coordinator in Liberia and the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support.  

2. The meeting focused on preparations for Liberia’s upcoming legislative and presidential elections in October 2023. The Government of Liberia provided an update on the electoral process and the Chair of the NEC briefed the Commission on the organization of the upcoming elections and suggested areas of continued cooperation and support from the PBC, the region and international partners.  

3.  The Commission commended Liberia on the remarkable progress the country had made in the last two decades and indicated that 2023 elections represent a crucial milestone in Liberia’s consolidation of democracy, peace, reconciliation, and national development. The Commission underscored the importance of ensuring peaceful, free, fair, transparent, credible, and inclusive elections and noted that inclusive dialogue between and among political parties, and adherence to a joint Code of Conduct and declaration of non-violence, would be key to ensuring peaceful elections. The Commission also underlined the importance of ensuring women's political participation and candidatures in the 2023 elections and encouraged the adoption of the revised New Elections bill including provisions on a 30 per cent gender quota for senior political party leadership and candidate listings in elections, as well as the implementation of the Protocol on Violence Against Women in Elections and Politics (VAWiE).  

4. The Commission noted that they would continue to follow the implementation of the Census and developments related to the procurement of a biometric voter registration system, as well as other issues essential to the electoral preparatory process and to the holding of free, peaceful, inclusive, transparent, and credible elections in  October 2023. They highlighted that the successful implementation of the electoral process would be instrumental to consolidating peace gains and the promotion of socio-economic development in Liberia. 

5. The Commission undertook to continue supporting the Liberian stakeholders with their electoral preparatory process.