[{"bbox": [96, 152, 1134, 234], "category": "Text", "text": "in Liberia's democratic space and can serve as important vehicles for women and youth participation in political processes, continue to be weak. They are not institutionalised but strongly personalised and with limited internal capacities."}, {"bbox": [96, 243, 1134, 458], "category": "Text", "text": "Political institutions in Liberia still remain with fragility and weaknesses. In particular, the bicameral National Legislature, which should play the oversight responsibility, faces extensive challenges from lack of support structures to limited capacity in specialised areas. Inadequate expertise at the Legislature's Secretariat limits oversight and rational law and policy formulation exacerbated by limited capacity at human, technical and financial resources. Accountability of the Legislature work is limited and not easily accessible by citizens and transparency towards civil society organisations (CSOs) and media should be increased. Because of these constraints and challenges the Legislature struggles to effectively conduct its three fundamental constitutional functions of legislating, oversight, and representation."}, {"bbox": [96, 468, 1134, 947], "category": "Text", "text": "Even so, elections in Liberia largely comply with international standards, including secret ballot, and universal suffrage and they were globally positive assessed by EOM back in 2017. The National Election Commission (NEC) has been increasingly assuming national ownership of the electoral process and conducted generally peaceful presidential and legislative elections commended by international observers, but still struggles to gain confidence among citizens due to many factors including delays in allocating electoral funding, lack of public trust in the voter register, protracted electoral dispute resolution, inadequate representation of women, and challenges in NEC's internal and external communication. The role of the EU remains critical in the support to the democratic process and the EU-UNDP Partnership would work towards peaceful, transparent, credible, and inclusive elections and the stabilisation of the country and its democratisation process. Furthermore, in the regional context, it is important to underline the importance of Liberia as a State enjoying a positive democratic process and a key player in promoting democracy within the Economic Commission for West African States (ECOWAS), the Mano River Union and the African Union. The EU support to the election process is aligned to relevant EU policies, other programmes and instruments including the EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy (2020-2024) as well as the external aspects of the 2020 European Democracy Action Plan. It builds upon the recommendations issued by the EU Elections Observer Mission in 2017 and by the Elections Follow up Mission (EFM) in May 2021. It contributes to the implementation of the Agenda 2030 to promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies, as it is aligned to the EU GAP III⁴ and the Women, Peace and Security agenda⁵. Furthermore, it is aligned to the European Consensus for Development⁶."}, {"bbox": [85, 982, 340, 1014], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.2 Problem Analysis"}, {"bbox": [96, 1029, 334, 1057], "category": "Section-header", "text": "**Short problem analysis:**"}, {"bbox": [96, 1066, 1134, 1228], "category": "Text", "text": "While strengthening inclusive, effective, transparent, and accountable governance in Liberia may take various forms, this Action will focus on three key identified problems during consultations with national stakeholders. These include (1) enhancing integrity of electoral institutions and processes; (2) addressing the participation of women and inclusion of marginalised groups in political processes; and (3) addressing key challenges faced by the National Legislature, especially the Secretariat, to enhance its role in legislative oversight. The Action therefore seeks to address the three interrelated problems as follows:"}, {"bbox": [96, 1253, 1134, 1520], "category": "List-item", "text": "1. While elections in Liberia have become credible and legitimate, various shortcomings have been witnessed. The NEC has been supported by the EU during two previous election cycles via the UNDP Elections Programme. Many improvements have been acknowledged, but many challenges are still present. NEC still faces organisational, capacity, and sustainability challenges such as: planning and budgetary shortcoming relating to timely allocation of resources; weak asset and financial management systems even after the support received under previous UNDP project (EU contribution under the 11th EDF); weak internal and external communication; limited information, communication and technology (ICT) infrastructure; limited IT internal capacities and limited external technical assistance; limited infrastructure even if partially improved under the last EU intervention; limited legal expertise. Furthermore, the actual legal framework that sets election date during the heavy rainy season impacts seriously electoral preparations and logistics."}, {"bbox": [85, 1572, 286, 1597], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁴ SWD(2020) 284 final."}, {"bbox": [85, 1597, 250, 1621], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁵ EEAS(2019) 747."}, {"bbox": [85, 1621, 290, 1645], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁶ OJ C 210 of 30.6.2017"}, {"bbox": [1038, 1680, 1144, 1705], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 5 of 25"}]