Abuja, December 19, 2017: West African leaders have urged the National Elections Commission (NEC) of Liberia to implement the Supreme Court’s recommendations, heading into the presidential run-off.

The regional leaders, according to a press release from the Liberian Embassy in Abuja, made the call in a Final Communique at the end of the 52^nd Ordinary Session of Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The Summit convened on  December 16, 2017 in Abuja, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, under the chairmanship of His Excellency Mr. Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe, President of the Republic of Togo and Chairman of Authority.

Her Excellency Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia and 13 other ECOWAS leaders and their duly mandated representatives, after participating in a day-long meeting of open and closed door sessions, adopted and signed the Final Communique at the end of the Summit.

According to the release, the ECOWAS leaders through a 68-count Final Communique, while taking note of the December 26, 2017 presidential run-off, urged NEC to implement the recommendations of the Supreme Court to ensure a peaceful and transparent election.

“[The ECOWAS] Authority takes note of the run-off presidential election scheduled for 26 December 2017, and urges the National Election Commission to implement the recommendations of the Supreme Court to ensure a peaceful and transparent election”, the release quotes the Final Communique as saying.

The Final Communique continued: “The [ECOWAS] Authority commends the successful conduct of the general elections in Liberia on 10 October 2017 and the professionalism with which the National Elections Commission (NEC) and the Supreme Court managed the dispute which followed the announcement of the results of the first round of the presidential election.”

According to the release, the regional leaders encouraged Ambassador Joseph Nyemah Boakai of the Unity Party (UP) and Senator George M. Weah of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) to conduct peaceful election campaigns and petition the Supreme Court over any electoral dispute.

The ECOWAS Authority also instructed the President of the Commission to closely monitor the electoral process, deploy an election observation mission to the country and provide all necessary assistance