MONROVIA, Montserrado – Barely three days after election day, one of Liberia’s main opposition political parties, Liberty Party, has described the results of the October 10 polls as ‘not valid’ based on evidence in its possession.

The standard bearer of Liberty Party, Charles Walker Brumskine, addressing a press conference at the party’s headquarters on Tubman Boulevard on Friday, said the process did not pass the minimum standards required for free, fair, and transparent elections.

“The elections were characterized by gross irregularities and fraud,” Brumskine said.

According to him, such undermined the integrity of the elections and deprived thousands of Liberians their constitutional right to vote.

Brumskine said his party will be filling a comprehensive complaint in the coming days with the National Elections Commission outlining all the incidents of irregularities and fraud.

Providing some of the irregularities and fraud discovered during the October 10 elections, Brumskine indicated that after voting ended at “an unnamed polling station in Montserrado,” the ballot box was sealed and party representatives departed.

He added, “Unfortunately another poll watcher, upon returning, caught the presiding officer’s hand in the ballot box with the seal broken.”

Brumskine added that the serial number of the seal that was found on the box was different than the serial number of the seal initially placed on the box.

Citing another incident, Brumskine said a presiding officer had been arrested with pre-marked ballots in Nimba, but he failed to disclose the precinct.

He also mentioned that at another unnamed polling station in Grand Bassa, ballots were cast in a bathtub instead of the required sealed box.

Additionally, Brumskine said some polling stations opened as late as 3:00 p.m., causing voters to leave and depriving them of their constitutional right to vote.

Brumskine noted that NEC records show that ballots at polling stations were all not accounted for.

“The Liberian people deserve to know what was done and who is responsible for such,” he added. He said Liberty Party is requesting a re-run of the elections and intends to follow the issue “all the way to the constitutional court.”

While Liberty Party intends to register its displeasure with the election, Brumskine said his party would keep the peace and not resolve to street protests.

“I have spoken to my partisans not to take to the street which is not the way of the LP,” he said.

Featured photo by Sampson David