Liberia prepares for presidential run off elections

Liberia may be heading for a run-off presidential election as none of the 16 presidential candidates pulled a clear majority from the 97 percent of results announced. Latest results announced on Sunday by the National Electoral Commission (NEC) indicated that President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (Unity Party) had garnered 44 percent of the total votes. With 96.7 percent of the votes in the October elections tallied and collated, which represents 4,311 of the 4,457 polling places, it is obvious that none of the 16 presidential candidates will obtain the required 50 percent plus one vote to avoid a run-off. The result indicated that Johnson-Sirleaf, who took an early lead, obtained 511,796 votes representing 44 percent of the total votes. The total vote collated, according to the commission, was 951, 902. The leading opposition, Winston Tubman of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), had 374,610 out of the total votes cast, representing 32 percent of the votes. A former warlord, Prince Yomi Johnson of the National Union for Democratic Progress (NUDC) maintained his third position with 136, 819 votes, representing 11.8 percent of the votes. Chairman of the Electoral Commission James Fromoyan said voter turnout was 71.4 percent, out of the 1.8 million people that registered in January and February. The commission will continue announcing preliminary results Tuesday. Meanwhile, a planned demonstration called by dissenting opposition parties failed to go ahead Sunday in Monrovia. But a member of the dissenting opposition party, ex-warlord, Prince Y. Johnson, currently third in the race according to progressive results released Sunday by the NEC has distanced himself from any planned demonstration. He told reporters in Monrovia that while he suspects foul play in the tallying and collating of ballots and supports the group's decision not to accept the results of the poll, he did not see the need for demonstration that has the propensity to disrupt the peace. The ex-warlord and leader of the National Union for Democratic Progress is feared for his ruthlessness during the civil war. There has been widespread fear among the majority of the people that the country will return to its past if the election results are not going the way of the opposition thus disrupting the fragile peace in the country. Report of the demonstration led people to begin stockpiling food stuff to last them for many days until normalcy returns. Also several women groups in Liberia, including the Mano River Union Women Peace Network (MARWOPNET), Angie Brooks Peace Network and Rural Women Network, have made an impassioned appeal to the dissenting opposition parties that have threatened to pull out of the presidential race to resort to legal means to address their grievances. Head of the Angie Brooks Women Advocacy group, Yvette Chesson Wureh, told reporters that while it is the right of parties to stage a peaceful protest it could be used by some disgruntled elements to disrupt the peace the Liberians have attained at a cost to both citizens and the international community. She also spoke against the pull-out of the presidential race by the parties. "The best option is to seek redress by channeling their grievances to the National election commission and the Supreme Court, if the commission fails to address their complaints," she added.