When questions are raised about the legitimacy of an election it can cause doubts among voters about the efficacy of the electoral system. In Liberia, the National Elections Commission (NEC) has received 56 complaints about the current presidential election so far. After the first round of voting on October 10th, several political parties have expressed concern over alleged misconduct in the voting process. Since no candidate received an absolute majority, under the Liberian constitution, a runoff election between the two forerunning candidates will be held. The final voting on November 7th will decide between George Weah of the Coalition for Democratic Change and current vice president Joseph Boakai, of the Unity Party.
The New York Times reports party complaints of late poll opening, that NEC never counted the ballot papers issued, and even an instance of ballot stuffing by a presiding officer. With these questions about the electoral system, it is unsure how many voters will participate in the next round of voting. Rodney Sieh, editor of the Liberian daily newspaper Front Page Africa, told the Times that voters are “very disenchanted by these stories” and he stressed the question of whether they will vote in the second round.
Most recently the Unity Party, which has been in power since 2006 with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, has added its complaints to the other allegations raised. On October 28th Front Page Africa reported the Boakai campaign confirmed that the Unity Party has filed a complaint with the NEC. This action has raised some concern that the Unity Party would threaten to boycott the election. Front Page Africa reports that it would not be an unprecedented move in the country’s elections. In 2011 the Coalition for Democratic Change threatened to boycott the election over allegations about the results. This happened after their party’s candidate lost the first round of voting to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
However, Mo Ali, the Unity Party’s Official Campaign Spokesperson, emphasizes that boycotting the election is not a consideration. “We are going to participate in the runoff and we should all continue with our campaign,” he told Front Page Africa, “Those that are engaged in sending out such information are detractors that are intending to create the situation in which our partisans and supporters will not turn out to vote.”
The Coalition for Democratic Change, despite having raised objections after losing the elections in both 2005 and 2011, has remained quiet with allegations this time around. Their candidate, George Weah, is currently in the lead with 38.4% of the vote.
The democratic form of government is still a relatively new development in Liberia. According to the U.S. Department of State’s fact sheet on its relationship with Liberia. The country began as a settlement of the American Colonization Society, and they declared independence from the society in 1847. From 1876 until a coup in 1980 the country was dominated by the True Whig Party. Then in 2005, after a series of military and transitional governments, the current government system was formed. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became the first democratically elected woman head of state in Africa. This current election represents Liberia’s first time replacing a democratically elected president with another democratically elected president. Whatever the outcome of the election, it is an important time in Liberia’s national history.