By Frank Sainworla, Jr. fsainworla@yahoo.com
Liberia’s Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that there is no evidence to warrant the annulment of the October 10, 2017 elections, ordering the National Elections Commission (NEC) to go ahead with the runoff but after taking certain corrective measures.
The opposition Liberty Party (LP) of Cllr. Charles Brumskine and the ruling Unity Party (UP) of Vice President Joseph Boakai had filed Bill of Exception against NEC Board of Commissioner’s dismissal of their complaints.
They alleged that the first round of elections was marred by massive fraud, violations of the electoral laws and the constitution, disenfranchisement of voters and other voting irregularities.
“We do not see the evidence in the records before us,” the Court said in its 126-page opinion, read by Justice Philip Z. Banks.
With one dissent by Justice Kabineh Janeh, the majority opinion of the four other members of the bench says “we are not convinced that the burden of proof was met.”
They set the tone to their ruling by stressing the court’s commitment to respecting and upholding the Liberian constitution. First, the ruling quotes Article 1, which says that the ultimate power of the state rest in the people and that it’s only the people that determine their leaders.
The premise to the landmark opinion continues by saying, “no deviation should dilute expression of the people’s will,” using Article 2 of the constitution as their reliance.
According to the ruling, the complainants were unable to show widespread/overwhelming violations of the constitution and election laws, showing that NEC was out for conspiracy to commit fraud, although it adds that there was much room for improvement in the conduct of elections by the national electoral body.
The country’s highest court then ordered NEC to go ahead with the conduct of the runoff presidential election, but put certain corrective measures in place to prevent some of the lapses that occurred during the first round of voting.
These measures include the cleaning up of the Final Registration Roll (FFR) for voters and have printed and certified copies at each voting place throughout Liberia.
NEC has also been ordered to publish the FFR in hard copies. Those who are allowed to vote in subsequent elections must be limited to only registered voters whose names are on the FFR, while poll watchers and other poll workers not on the list at a given polling place must not be allowed to vote.
In addition, the Supreme Court has prohibited NEC Commissioners and other officials not to make public pronouncements relative to cases on issues before the electoral body.
NEC Chairman’s recusal
The decision by the NEC Board of Commissioners was taken to task for its ruling thrash the complainant’s call for the recusal of Chairman Jerome Korkoya for an earlier public statement he made describing their case as politically motivated.
The Court believes that such a statement was inappropriate, as it has the propensity to undermine an impartial investigation, calling on the NEC boss to discern his role as Chairman of the national electoral body.
His role and the structure of NEC are administrative and Quusa judicial.
More details on Thursday’s ruling will subsequently follow.