-‘Politicians should look up to the Supreme Court’-AU, ECOWAS urge
By our Staff Writer
Amidst rising political tensions, two West African heads of States representing the African Union and ECOWAS on Wednesday held talks with Liberian political leaders, urging them to submit to the rule of law.
Guinean President Alpha Conde, Chairman of ECOWAS and the African Union (AU) Chairman, Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé told the political party leaders to await the decision of the country’s Supreme Court on the results of the October 10 elections earlier announced by the National Elections Commission.
Their arrival in Monrovia came just hours after the Supreme Court placed a temporary stay order on the runoff elections slated to take place next Tuesday, November 7, 2017 between George Weah of the main opposition Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) and incumbent Vice President Joseph Boakai of the ruling Unity Party (UP).
Both men were frontrunners in the first round with 38% and 28% of the votes respectively, with none of them managing to get the 50% plus one vote absolute majority required by Liberian law.
The UP and two other parties (All Liberian Party and the Alternative National Congress) have backed a legal challenged put up by Charles Brumskine’s Liberty Party (LP) at the high court claiming massive fraud in the first round of balloting and calling for a rerun of the October 10 polls.
During the talks held at a local hotel and attended by current President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the two African statements assured the Liberian politicians that the AU and ECOWAS would not interfere in the country’s politics but reminded them of the need to maintain peace and tranquility.
In a communique, the AU and ECOWAS authorities then called on the media to “be moderate”. If not, Presidents Conde and Gnassingbé warned that the situation in Liberia could get out of hand.
Five of the presidential candidates who took part in the first round of elections—George Weah (CDC), Joseph Boakai (UP), Charles Brumskin (LP), Benoni Urey (ALP) and Alexander Cummings (ANC) along with executives of the rest of the 26 political parties in the country also attended Wednesday’s meeting.
President Ellen Johson Sirleaf spoke of the need for all parties to respect the due process of law and said that the transition was on course.
Claims of fraud and irregularities in past elections in Liberia had led to armed uprising in the past.
If this 2017 election pass off peacefully, it will mark the first time since 1944 that one democratically elected president will peacefully hand over power to another elected president.
Africa’s first elected female President, who is constitutionally due to hand over power in mid-January 2018, stressed the need for the electoral process to be completed within the timeframe spelled out in the Liberian constitution.
Speaking to Journalists after the talks with the two African leaders, Brumskine said his party’s move to challenge the results of the elections was to make use of legal options in the Liberian constitution in order to avoid bloodshed, adding that “good will prevail over evil.”
For his part, Weah of the main opposition party, CDC said he was talking to his supporters to remain calm and allow the electoral process to take its course.
The two visiting African heads of state also met with Liberia’s Inter Religious Council during their stay in Monrovia.
Meanwhile, the AU and ECOWAS authorities have asked outgoing President Sirleaf to ‘stay off the fray’ in the ongoing electoral process in Africa’s oldest independent country.