Legal battle looms over Pleebo elections results
-As secret recording reveals admission of ballot stuffing
Reports reaching this paper indicate a looming legal battle over the Pleebo, Sodoken District #2 Representative election results amidst allegations of ballot stuffing in a leaked audio recording.
The district, particularly at polling precinct #27020 in Old Sodoken made headlines on election night when Traditional Chieves brought out a Country Devil (Mask Dancer) and took sieged of ballot boxes at the precinct comprising two polling centers.
The action of the traditional leaders was condemned by observers including the Women Situation Room (WSR) and the Liberian Council of Churches (LCC), which called on the National Elections Commission and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to investigate the situation adding “Our National Symbols should not be used in elections.”
Now, the situation appears to be headed to court following the declaration of Mr. Anthony Willaims of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) as the winner of the district in the October 10 polls.
This comes amidst a leaked audio recording purported to be the voice of NEC Supervisor Cece Munah Nimely in a conversation with a CDC Poll watcher in which she claimed to have stuffed ballots in favor of the winner because of undue pressure.
In the audio, the voice purported to be that of Ms. Nimely can be heard saying that if the situation had been in Gbololu Precinct 27010, one of the Precincts in which she presided, she would have recommended a rerun in the area, but the Old Sodoken is hustle to the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC).
As if the purported confession was not enough, the tally sheet at Old Sodoken, where the Country Devil took over the center for some time shows that a total of 962 ballot papers were in use instead of the total of 550.
Sources close to Speaker Bhofal Chambers’s office say the Speaker is initiating a legal battle in which he is demanding a rerun of the Representative election in the district.
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Speaker Chambers who took an early lead during the tallying process, called for calm after the incident.
Reports say, the ballot boxes, from the Old Sodoken voting Precinct, were taken to the NEC office in Harper, Maryland County.
It remains to be seen how far this case will go as the involvement of Traditional Mask Dancers in the election comes as a complete violation of the entire process. -Writes Othello B. Garblah
