Liberia’s Weah heads to State House as U.S. embassy backs election credibility claims
Things may have started taking shape in Liberia following the disputed general election of which the celebrated football star, emerged overall winner, as the U.S Embassy in the country has added its voice to the credibility of the disputed election.
Agency reports disclosed that the U.S. Embassy in Liberia on Wednesday defended the credibility of the October 10th presidential election there, amid allegations of irregularities and fraud that have delayed a run-off poll.
“No accredited Liberian, regional, or international observation group suggested that the cumulative anomalies observed reflect systemic issues sufficient to undermine the fundamental integrity of the electoral process,” the U.S. embassy said in a statement.
Indications, according to feelers in Liberia are that the ruling party wants to discredit the election that is ostensibly won by Weah, through underground alliance with weak candidates.
Following the elections first round dubbed inconclusive, first-round winner George Weah, a former international football star, was initially set to face the runner-up, Vice-President Joseph Boakai, last week to determine who eventually become winner to replace current term-limited President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
The former World footballer of the year, George Weah, leads other candidates scored 572,374 votes or 39 per cent of total votes. He is followed by the current vice president, Joseph Boakai, who has 427,544 votes or 29.1 per cent, while Charles Brumskine has 144,353 votes or 9.8 per cent of votes.
However before the date of the rescheduled runoff election, the third-place finisher, Charles Brumskine, contested the outcome of the first round, claiming gross irregularities had occurred and accusing NEC officials of fraud, an allegation the body denies.
“No accredited Liberian, regional, or international observation group suggested that the cumulative anomalies observed reflect systemic issues sufficient to undermine the fundamental integrity of the electoral process,” the U.S. embassy said in a statement.
Liberia’s Supreme Court ordered the elections commission to fully examine Brumskine’s allegations last week, a decision likely to push back the run-off date by weeks and even creates the possibility of the first round being re-run.
A number of first-round candidates, including Boakai, have publicly backed Brumskine’s challenge to the results and echoed his fraud allegations.
The dispute led Johnson Sirleaf, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, to state in a radio address following the Supreme Court decision that Liberia’s democracy was “under threat”, without elaborating.
“Efforts by any actors to impede the expressed will of Liberia’s people for personal ambition could risk goodwill and future investments in Liberia by international partners,” the U.S. statement warned.
Liberia, Africa’s oldest modern republic, was founded by freed U.S. slaves in 1847, and maintains a special relationship with the United States.
The West African timber and rubber producer is still trying to heal the wounds of one of the continent’s most brutal civil wars, which ended nearly 15 years ago. A successful vote would be its first democratic transfer of power in more than seven decades.
