MONROVIA, Montserrado – On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ordered the National Elections Commission, Unity Party, and Liberty Party to appear before it for hearing into the ongoing elections fraud case.
Unity Party, an intervening party to the complaint filed by the Liberty Party, claimed that NEC violated the constitution and elections law, in addition to committing fraudulent acts and gross irregularities during the October 10 elections.
On Wednesday, while hearings into the elections case were ongoing, a sheriff from the Supreme Court walked in and began serving notices to lawyers representing the three groups, to the amazement of the audience.
Proceedings of the hearing came to a standstill for several minutes as the sheriff submitted the notification to the parties’ lawyers.
Unity Party lawyers receive notification from the court’s sheriff. Photo: Zeze Ballah
The court’s decision is in wake of a motion of subpoenas filed by Unity Party.
Unity Party has requested from NEC a copy of the final registration roll for the October 10 elections, copies of the addenda to the voters roll made at the polling centers, and copies of the worksheets submitted by presiding officers nationwide.
They also requested records of the investigation conducted by NEC of a staff in the office of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The staff was arrested with machines used to print voter registration cards, along with other election materials.
Unity Party had similarly requested records of the investigation of NEC presiding officer arrested in Nimba with pre-marked ballots. In its motion filed before the court, the party said the chief dispute hearing officer at NEC had denied five of the seven requests, particularly the request for the final registration roll.
The court noted that Unity Party said it needs the evidence to substantiate the allegation of election fraud. Unity Party’s motion filed before the Supreme Court said NEC’s commissioners’ delay in ruling on its appeal is unduly delaying the case.
In its motion, Unity Party has said that the conduct of the NEC commissioners is a violation of the orders of the Supreme Court and that the commissioners should be held in contempt.
Featured photo by Zeze BallahÂ
