October 24, 2017

The Liberty Party (LP) has submitted a complaint to the National Election Commission (NEC), calling for it to cancel the votes so far won by former soccer star George Weah, a document showed.

The LP candidate lawyer Charles Brumskine placed third after Weah placed first and the ruling party’s Joseph Boakai second.

The complaint was filed by the presidential and vice-presidential candidates as well as all representative candidates of the LP.

International observers, including The Carter Centre and the National Democratic Institute, said they did not see any major problems with the vote.

In its complaint, the Liberty Party alleges various problems ranging from the late opening of polls to the absence of queue controllers but also included fraud allegations, including by NEC officials.

NEC officials were not immediately available outside of normal office hours.

In one case, the LP alleged that an NEC officer had pre-marked ballots in his possession.

In another, the LP said an official misrepresented the number of ballots for the party’s candidate.

“These elections were characterised by gross irregularities and fraud, which undermined the integrity of the elections and deprived thousands of Liberians of their constitutional right to vote,” the LP said.

The second round run-off is scheduled got Nov. 7.