Police probe NEC staff, voter

The Liberia National Police (LNP) confirms here that it is investigating a female staff of the National Election Commission (NEC) and a voter following commotion over a controversy ballot paper.

Police spokesman Sam Collins, who confirms the information here, details via mobile phone that an electorate, who went to cast his ballot at a voting precinct in Zobah Town community, Paynesville admits to receiving two unmarked ballot papers from a female NEC staff in the precinct.

According to Collins, the voter who is being interrogated further confirms casting the two ballot papers in favor of a candidate of his candidate, against the electoral law.

He adds that the female worker of NEC is also under probe for giving excess ballot papers to the voter at the voting precinct.  The Constitution of Liberia states that one person is titled to one ballot as provided by the guidelines of the National Election Commission (NEC).

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the National Election Commission (NEC) Cllr. Jerome George Korkoya terms as false, claim and fake news about ballot fraud at a voting precinct situated in Jacob Town, Paynesville, outside Monrovia.

At the same time, report also speaks of confusion between observers of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) and the Unity Party (UP) at a voting precinct situated on Bushrod Island over valid and invalid votes.

NEC says it is doing everything possible to resolve the dispute between observers of the two political parties. The runoff presidential election was relatively peaceful across the country, but characterized by low voters’ turnout in what is expected to produce the first political transition in 73 years.

Vice President Joseph Nyumah Boakai of the governing UP and Senator George Weah of the CDC are vying to succeed President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

By Emmanuel Mondaye-Editing by Jonathan Browne