Liberia’s Supreme Court told the electoral commission to proceed with organizing the final round of presidential elections that was initially scheduled Nov. 7 but put on hold to probe allegations of fraud during the first round.
The Supreme Court on Nov. 1 halted preparations for the second round to hear complaints lodged by presidential candidate Charles Brumskine, who came third as leader of the Liberty Party. Brumskine was joined by the Unity Party in his call for a rerun of the election, saying it was marred by fraud and irregularities. Brumskine also questioned the professionalism of Liberia’s electoral commission, demanding its commissioners be fired.
“For there to be such a massive turnaround in the entire electoral process, the appellants are under a legal obligation to show that these activities occurred not just at a few isolated centers, but that they occurred at most, or all of the polling places,” he said.
The Liberty Party accepted the court’s verdict, Brumskine said on radio station Truth FM.
For the runoff to proceed, the National Elections Commission needs to clean up the voters roll by removing multiple names of identification numbers and make sure that no unregistered person is allowed to vote, according to the judgment.
The elections commission is yet to set a new date for the second round poll. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is due to step down on Jan. 18 after completing two five-year mandates.