By Trokon Karnga
Grand Bassa County – The Election Magistrate of Grand Bassa County has ruled against a complaint by a defeated representative candidate of Charles Brumskine’s Liberty Party alleging fraud and calling for a rerun.
LP defeated candidate, who is an incumbent Representative Jeh Byron Brown has been protesting the results of the elections challenging the NEC Presiding Officers claiming he committed electoral irregularities and fraud in District No 4.
The ruling was handed done on Monday, October 23 in the Hearing Room of the National Elections Commission (NEC) Local Office located at the Fairground in Buchanan, some 88 miles from Monrovia.
The Election Magistrate dismissed the case and denied complainant Byron Brown request of a re – run for the House of Representatives Election in electoral district four.
According to David Logan, Incumbent Brown complaint lacks the legal basis for a re- run of the district election.
Logan also stated in the ruling that the allegations lack sufficient facts in proving electoral irregularities and fraud.
During the hearing, NEC’s Presiding Officers who were defendants in the case refuted the allegations that at no time tub or fish cartoon was used at the polling places in district four.
In their explanation, the defendants said if there is no ballot box at the time, a polling kit could substitute for the ballot box until a proper ballot box can arrive.
Furthermore, the NEC defendants turned as unfounded and baseless the allegation of roll call from copy books by poll workers instead of using the final registration roll.
But, Rep Brown who took the third place in the election with 20.9% to Nicholas Barkon of the LTP coming second with 23.8% and Independent, Vincent S. T. Willie II as winner with 29.8% of the district mentioned five polling precincts of electoral irregularities and fraud in his complaint to the Elections Magistrate of Grand Bassa County, Mr. David Logan.
Those areas include Slue Town, Voe Twon, Klein Town, Kennedy Town and Kpokon Rally Road polling centers.
When contacted, Rep Byron Brown told the local Magic FM community radio that the evidence he presented including the witnesses he produced, were not captured in the minutes he received from the Liberty Party Youth Chairman, Joseph Goffa, who represented him at the NEC Local Office.
The outgoing Lawmaker also said the citation of the ruling was in error.
According to him, the Magistrate who sent the citation was the same person who signed it, something he described as “quasi judiciary” presided over by Mr. David Logan.
He claimed that the NEC Presiding Officers did not produce witnesses to support their position that what he as a complainant presented was all wrong information.
The defeated LP legislative candidate alleged that NEC had “a set mind to cheat” in the elections.
“The National Elections Commission is incompetent to handle election in the country which the Elections Magistrate is no exception,” outgoing Rep Brown said.
At the same time, another LP representative candidate in Buchanan District number 3 who was defeated in the October 10 elections, Gabriel Smith has however since conceded defeat.
Smith recently congratulated the winner and said “the people have spoken” through their votes.