Liberia’s Supreme Court has halted preparations for
next week’s presidential run-off vote between Senator George
Weah and Vice President Joseph Boakai.
In a writ issued late
on Tuesday, the court instructed the Liberty Party of third-placed
Charles Brumskine, who made the complaint, and the National Elections
Commission, to file briefs by Thursday.
“This
is a big step in the right direction,” said Liberty Party Chairman
Benjamin Sanvee. “The Court recognizes the gravity of the issues and has
taken action in defense of the law and democracy.”
This week,
Boakai’s ruling Unity Party announced it was backing the legal
challenge. It accused Johnson Sirleaf, one of its own members, of
interfering in the October vote by holding private meetings with
election magistrates.
President Sirleaf denied
the meetings were inappropriate. Observers from the European Union and
the Carter Center say they saw no major problems with the first round
vote.
The Supreme Court’s decision is an
example of an increasingly assertive role some African judiciaries are
playing in overseeing elections. Kenya’s Supreme Court annulled the
results of a presidential election in August.
National
Elections Commission chairman Jerome Korkoya questioned the need for
the Supreme Court’s decision, which he said has halted preparations for
the vote, including training polling station staff.
“Let me
categorically say I see no reason, legal or otherwise, for such an
order,” he told reporters. “The election was transparent and credible.”
The chairman of West African regional body ECOWAS, Togolese
President Faure Gnassingbe, and the African Union chair, Guinea’s
president Alpha Conde, arrived in the capital Monrovia on Wednesday.
“There
have been some complaints, some challenges. That process is ongoing in
keeping with the rule of law,” Johnson Sirleaf said at a news conference
alongside Gnassingbe, Conde, Weah, Boakai and three other candidates.
“This
democratic process must be concluded within the time frame of the
constitution so that I may be able to retire and end this transition
successfully,” she said.
The streets of
Monrovia remained calm though the court ruling raised tension in the
capital where memories of the war are fresh. Large numbers of riot
police deployed outside the Supreme Court and election commission
headquarters.
“I see this entire
process as critical to our survival as a nation. We must do all to avoid
sliding into war,” said student David Farmah. “No one has money to have
a re-run of the election. It should go ahead.”
Weah
won the first round with 38.4 percent of the vote to Boakai’s 28.8
percent. He has tapped into frustration with Johnson Sirleaf’s 12-year
tenure, which has seen a post-war peace consolidated and the economy
quadruple in size but has failed to root out corruption and alleviate
poverty.
Morluba Morlu, a senior official from Weah’s CDC party, said on Wednesday he still expected the run-off to go ahead next week. “It is sad for a ruling party that has been in power for 12 years (to) be crying,” he said of Unity Party’s support for the legal challenge. “We don’t want any mockery of this election.”
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