Liberia poll delay plans faltering, vote seen in Oct

Liberia's presidential election is now likely to be held in October as a proposed delay until November fell short in a referendum, according to results from over 99 percent of the votes announced by poll organisers, Reuters reported. The Aug. 23 referendum, seen by many as a dry run for Liberia's second post war election, saw a low turnout and tens of thousands of spoilt ballots but there were no reports of violence despite fears over mounting tensions. Some eight years after Liberia's war ended, peace gains remain fragile. There are large numbers of frustrated unemployed youth and a United Nations peacekeeping mission remains central to consolidating stability. The election delay from a provisional date of Oct. 11 had been proposed to allow for the rainy season to end in the mineral-rich West African nation. Two other proposals, including reducing residency requirements from 10 to 5 years for presidential candidates and raising the retirement age for judges to 75 are also on course to miss the two-thirds threshold, figures showed. One proposal that candidates needed a simple majority for parliamentary elections, looks set to be adopted. The National Election Commission said that just over 600,000 people had voted in the referendum, putting the turn out at just over 33 percent. Over 70,000 votes were deemed invalid for each of the propositions, the body said. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf will go into the election favourite for re-election but she faces an uphill struggle convincing many voters the pace of change has been fast enough.