Liberian parties claim fraud in election

Eight opposition parties in Liberia said they're pulling out of the presidential election, claiming fraud in vote-counting. The BBC said the parties claim the National Elections Commission manipulated the vote-counting to give President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf the lead. The British broadcaster said partial results show Sirleaf leads but lacks the majority necessary to avoid a run-off vote. The electoral commission said Sirleaf had captured 45.4 percent of the vote, Winston Tubman, 29.5 percent and Prince Johnson on 11.4 percent. Tubman's Congress for Democratic Change and Johnson's National Union for Democratic Progress were among the parties pulling out of the election. The election commission has until Oct. 26 to announce results. Sirleaf, a co-winner of this year's Nobel Peace prize, was elected in 2005, becoming Liberia's first democratically elected president since the end of the country's 14-year-old civil war. This year's election marked the first conducted independently by the Liberians. Nearly 150,000 people died and another 850,000 fled to neighboring countries during the decade-long civil war in Liberia.