Fraudulent elections

The opposition Liberty Party describes Tuesday, October 10, 2017 Presidential and Representatives elections as ‘fraudulent. The LP says the election did not pass the minimum standards required for free, fair and transparent elections.

Addressing a news conference in Monrovia, on Friday, 13 October LP Standard Bearer Cllr. Charles Walker Brumskine notes: “These elections were characterized by gross irregularities and fraud, which undermined the integrity of the elections and deprived thousands of Liberians of their constitutional right to vote. Based on our assessment of the evidence available, the results of this election are not valid.”

He continues that the party will be filling a comprehensive complaint with the National Elections Commission in coming days, outlining all of the incidents of alleged irregularities and fraud.

Cllr. Brumskine recounts that after voting ended at a certain polling place in Montserrado County, the ballot box was sealed, and the party representatives left the polling place, but unfortunately, for the presiding officer, a poll watcher returned to the polling place only to allegedly find the presiding office’s hand in the ballot box, having broken the seal.

“We have the number of the seal that was initially placed on the ballot box when the counting was done, and the number of the second seal that was placed on the ballot box, following the return of the poll watcher,” he explained.

Cllr. Brumskine cited another situation in Nimba County, where a presiding officer was arrested with pre- marked ballot in his possession. He further explains that in a certain polling center in his native Grand Bassa County, ballots were cast in a bath tub, instead of a sealed ballot.

“Some polling places in most of the counties did not open until 3: pm – after many voters had left polling places, thus depriving some Liberians of their constitutional right to vote,” he further laments.

Cllr. Brumskine whose party is in third position based on results announced by the National Elections Commission, notes that generally, the records of count show that ballots at polling places were not all accounted for. The Liberty Party flag bearer intimates that many of those, who voted on Tuesday, are shocked by the results, disclosing that some are planning to take to the streets to vent their frustration with the electoral process, as they do not believe that the results being reported accurately reflected the votes of the people.

He stresses that Liberians deserve to know what was done and who did it, “and they deserve a valid, transparent election. So many Liberians were deprived of the constitutional right to vote, we will therefore, be requesting a rerun of the election,” the three times contender challenges.

By E. J. Nathaniel Daygbor-Editing by Jonathan Browne