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Nigeria Agency Report<\/p>\n
Nov 2, 2017<\/p>\n
The National Elections Commission of Liberia has suspended electoral activities ahead of the November 7 run-off presidential elections in compliance with an order of the country\u2019s Supreme Court halting the process.<\/p>\n
George Weah of the opposition Coalition for Democratic Change and Joseph Boakai of the ruling Unity Party received more votes than the rest of the other candidates in the presidential race, thus qualifying them to participate in a runoff election.<\/p>\n
Weah obtained 38.4 per cent of the total valid votes in the presidential race on October 10, while Boakai had 28.8 per cent.<\/p>\n
NEC had earlier announced that the runoff would be held next Tuesday.
\nThe chairman of the commission, Jerome Korkoya, announced the suspension of electoral activities at a press conference in Monrovia on Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n
Korkoya said the November 7 run-off was unlikely, as the commission had already started losing days for preparation due to the temporary Writ of Prohibition issued by the apex court on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe loss of today (Wednesday) due to the order already means the Nov.7 date that was set for the run-off presidential elections does not look possible to meet.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrior to the stay order, election preparations were on track as ballot papers arrived as scheduled on Oct. 28.<\/p>\n
\u201cPacking had been on-going and ballot papers and other sensitive materials were being prepared and dispatched to centres across the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cParts of the shipments of materials had already arrived in Maryland, Grand Kru, River Gee and Grand Gedeh counties at the time of the order,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Korkoya explained that distribution of the remaining materials to Maryland, River Gee, Nimba, Margibi and Bong counties had been scheduled for Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was suspended, and in some cases, the materials already in transit as of the time the court order came were recalled to the commission\u2019s warehouses,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The NEC chairman said deliveries scheduled for Bomi, Grand Bassa, Cape Mount, Grand Gedeh, Sinoe and parts of Montserrado counties had been suspended.<\/p>\n
He stated that training of NEC staff had also been suspended.<\/p>\n
\u201cMagistrate and election supervisor training was completed before the stay order was issued.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaterials for training that was scheduled to commence today (Wednesday) for presiding officers from across the country had arrived at the training centres at the time of the order.<\/p>\n
\u201cTraining of polling staff scheduled for the Nov. 3 and 4 is suspended.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe training of all staff was supposed to be completed on Nov. 5 to allow staff members to reach their polling places,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Korkoya said NEC had also asked its partners carrying out civic and voter education activities across the country to stay action.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court had ordered the suspension of all electoral activities for the run-off until it considered an application challenging results of the first round of elections held on Oct. 10.<\/p>\n
The application was filed by the presidential candidate of Liberty Party(LP), Mr Charles Brumskine, who finished third in the first round.
\nBrumskine had alleged fraud, late commencement of voting and disenfranchisement of LP members and supporters at some polling centres.<\/p>\n
(NAN)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nigeria Agency Report Nov 2, 2017 The National Elections Commission of Liberia has suspended electoral activities ahead of the November 7 run-off presidential elections in compliance with an order of the country\u2019s Supreme Court halting the process. George Weah of the opposition Coalition for Democratic Change and Joseph Boakai of the ruling Unity Party received […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n