–Terms “Rumors” of “Pre-marked Ballots” in Foya as “Fake News”
Liberia’s National Elections Commission (NEC) is calling on political parties agents who are assigned at various polling places and who are demanding that voters be only allowed to vote after they had been identified in the Final Registration Roll (FRR), to desist from such as it “is against the polling and counting procedures” of the Commission.
In a release issued on Runoff Election Day, Tuesday, November 14, the NEC said: “It has come to the attention of the National Elections that some party agents are demanding the polling staffs toread out the names of voters prior to voting so that the voters is identified in Final Registration Roll in the possession of party agents. The Commission says this is against the polling and counting procedures, and it has the propensity to expose voters to undue scrutiny by unauthorized persons, thereby jeopardizing the protection of the voters.” In addition to the above, the NEC says, “It also compromises the secrecy of the voting process.” The NEC then warned its polling staffs to desist from doing so with immediate effect.
The Commission denies and rejects reports thatvitbhad signed an MOU with political parties in this Presidential Runoff Election relative to calling of voters’ names and checking them against the copy of the FRR issued to political parties.
In other related developments, the Commission says that rumors circulating on social media that pre-marked ballots were discovered in Foya, Lofa County is fake news and a disinformation campaign intended to undermine the electoral process and discourage Liberians from turning out to vote.
“The Commission emphatically says that it did not issue any instruction to pre mark ballots for the ongoing Presidential Runoff Election. All NEC ballots deployed to the magisterial offices and onward to the 2080 precincts and 5890 polling places remained intact for deployment for polling on 14 November 2023.”
Meanwhile, voting in the Runoff Election got off to a very good start as the very long queues that were observed during the October 10, 2023 Presidential and Legislative Elections were not visible at most polling places. Voters were seeking just walking in and their names being found by the NEC staffs and allowed to vote.
The Presidential Runoff Election came about when none of the 20 individuals who participated in the October presidential polls didn’t obtain the 50 percent +1 vote as required by law to be declared President.
Twenty individuals, including 19 men and a woman, had wrestled for Liberians’ votes to be their next leader. Weah, who is the incumbent, according to the NEC, got 804,087, constituting 43.83%; while Boakai, Weah’s near rival, obtained 796,961, constituting 43.44%. Even though Weah got 7,126 votes more than his rival, he still didn’t qualify to be declared the next president of Liberia. The percentage margin between both men is 0.39.
The NEC Chairperson based her reliance on Article 83B of the Liberian Constitution: “All elections of public officers shall be determined by an absolute majority of the votes cast. If no candidate obtains an absolute majority in the first ballot, a second ballot shall be conducted on the second Tuesday following. The two candidates who received the greatest numbers of votes on the first ballot shall be designated to participate in the runoff election.”
According to the NEC, of the 2,471,617 Liberians, who had registered to vote in the elections, 1,949,155 (78.86%) participated.
