MONROVIA – The National Elections (NEC) has announced a rerun of the presidential, senatorial and representative elections at the two polling places in Nimba Electoral District #4 where ballot boxes were stolen.
By Gerald C. Koinyeneh – [email protected]
On Saturday, Madam Lansanah reported that two boxes containing representative’s ballot papers in Nimba County were stolen from the magistrate’s offices in the county, and that the stolen boxes contained votes cast for representatives at a precinct in Beo Lonto Public School with code 33258 in district.
However, on Saturday, she said votes the rerun will cover the three categories.
“Members of the Press, the NEC informs Liberians and stakeholders that the Board of Commissioners has instructed the Secretariat of the Commission to plan a re-run of the Presidential, Senatorial and Representative Elections at two polling places in Precinct Beo Lontuo in Electoral District 4 in Nimba County on Friday, 20 October 2023,” she said.
She also mentioned that those arrested in connection with the incident are still undergoing investigation.
What happened?
Around 6:45 PM on Tuesday, during the countrywide elections, a large number of Ivorian voters entered Liberia from Ivory Coast and demanded the National Election Commission (NEC) workers to allow them to cast their votes. Their request was denied, leading to an altercation that resulted in the Ivorian voters disrupting the proceedings and placing NEC workers under house arrest.
Following this incident, two of the representative ballot boxes located in the four polling centers in Beo-Longtuo Town, with Center Code 33258, were damaged. These polling centers were expected to have 850 registered voters. Additionally, one ballot box went missing from the residence of Beo-Longtuo Town Chief Augustine Borduneh, where it was being kept for safekeeping.
Aggrieved citizens of the town, including supporters of the 17 representative candidates, came forward with heightened tension, demanding that the NEC rerun the election for Beo-Longtuo Town.
Security forces were deployed to the town to release NEC workers and the voters who were under house arrest. They managed to apprehend eight suspects, including Beo-Longtuo Town Chief Augustine Borduneh, who was found with one of the missing ballot boxes, and Menwogbay Sieder, an election supervisor who has been described as a prominent leader who allegedly ordered the citizens, including young people believed to be party supporters.
Polling staff arrested for alleged electoral malpractices
Madam Lansanah revealed that at the Montserrado County Tally Center at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex, the Magistrates of Upper and Lower Montserrado ordered the arrest of five polling staff for electoral malpractice. Similarly, at the Grand Cape Mount Tally Center in Robertsport, the Election Magistrate reported that three presiding officers were found to have been involved in electoral malpractices at one precinct, Weajue Public School with code 12035. She said investigation in these matters is ongoing and findings will be disclosed to the public as soon as they are made available.
The NEC boss did not say in whose favor these staffers allegedly cheated, what forms of electoral malpractices they committed. Her pronouncement comes as 98 percent of the votes have been tallied so far with the incumbent George Weah of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) and Joseph Nyumah Boakai of the Opposition Unity Party (UP) heading to an imminent runoff.
In addition, it also comes as several political parties have questioned the integrity of the results that are being released by the NEC.
Mr. Alexander Cummings of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) had rubbished the results as ridiculous and do not reflect the will of the Liberian people.
In a statement, Cummings said: “People are feeling robbed of their right to freely and fairly express their will and choice for leadership. The scheme to rob the Liberian voter of their right to choose their leaders maybe sophisticated and difficult to trace and prove, but in the end, it undermines our democracy and risks the security and stability of our country. The evil geniuses involved and their co=conspirators may believe they can demoralize our right to vote. They may be thinking they can crush our desire to be governed democratically and live in peace. They are wrong.”