Liberia Supreme Court Halts Presidential Second-Round Vote

(Bloomberg) -- Liberia’s Supreme Court ruled that Tuesday’s presidential runoff vote may not proceed until a complaint over alleged irregularities in the Oct. 10 first round poll is heard.

The National Elections Commission will need to consider the Liberty Party’s grievance over voting fraud “and an appeal heard by the court, if any,” before the second round may go ahead, Chief Justice Francis Korkpor said Monday in the capital, Monrovia. The Liberty Party’s presidential candidate, Charles Brumskine, was knocked out of contention after coming third in the first round, with 9.7 percent of the vote.

“Efforts to disenfranchise voters and undermine Liberia’s democracy were grave enough to warrant intervention from the Supreme Court,” party Chairman Benjamin Savee said by email. “We are glad that after listening to our case and reviewing the indisputable evidence, the court agrees.”

George Weah, a soccer star turned politician from the Congress for Democratic Change, won 38.4 percent of the first-round votes, ahead of Vice President Joseph Boakai, who took 28.8 percent. They were scheduled to contest the runoff because neither candidate secured the majority needed for an outright victory in the race to succeed President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
The election commission’s chairman, Jerome Korkoya, said last week that the runoff was unlikely to proceed on Tuesday, regardless of a ruling, because deadlines will be hard to meet after the court halted preparations for the vote on Nov. 1.

The commission should finalize the Liberty Party’s complaint with urgency, Korkpor said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Festus Poquie in Monrovia at fpoqie@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andre Janse van Vuuren at ajansevanvuu@bloomberg.net, Ana Monteiro

©2017 Bloomberg L.P.