• Defeated Candidates File Affidavit of Information To NEC In Alleged Lofa County Violation, Source: FrontPage Africa
• Stop Interfering In Elections –Atty. Kofi Woods To President Sirleaf, Source: FrontPage Africa
• Liberians fear interim government, Source: The New Dawn
• Boakai signs Youth Manifesto, Source: The New Dawn
• Liberia election was designed to be rigged: Joseph Boakai, Source: Daily Nation
• From Kenya to Liberia, the Judiciary Getting Bolder in Fragile African Democracies?, Sources: All Africa and This Is Africa

Defeated Candidates File Affidavit of Information To NEC In Alleged Lofa County Violation, Source: FrontPage Africa

Four candidates who contested the October 10 elections in Lofa County Electoral District #3 have filed an affidavit of information with the National Elections Commission (NEC). Momo Siafa Kpoto of the Liberty Party (LP), Albert Ballah of the Coalition for Liberia's Progress (CLP), independent candidate James Cooper, and Korva Jorbor of the United People’s Party (UPP) alleged in their affidavit that since the announcement of the final elections results on 19 October, it has been difficult to find election officials together..

Stop Interfering In Elections –Atty. Kofi Woods To President Sirleaf, Source: FrontPage Africa

Human rights lawyer and former labor minister Atty. Samuel Kofi Woods has called on President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to stop interfering in the 2017 elections. Atty. Woods said the international community must tell President Sirleaf to stay out and stop interfering in the elections, adding: “They must dialogue with political parties to stabilize our elections. We cannot continue to be a problem child. We must grow up and become responsible adults taking care of each other and building our nation.” The former labor minister spoke at the induction ceremony for officers of the Liberia Federation of labor Unions over the weekend.

Liberians fear interim government, Source: The New Dawn

According to The New Dawn, reactions from Liberians seem mixed on the prohibition from the Supreme Court halting all electoral activities pending full investigation into complaint of fraud and irregularities against results of the October 10 Presidential and Representatives Elections filed by the Liberty Party (LP) with many youths seriously frowning on the high court’s decision, lamenting that the Court is trying to waste time.

Blo Morias, 24, argues that LP standard bearer Cllr. Charles Brumskine knows that he lacks the capacity to win the presidency, so he’s attempting to delay elections. A woman in her 50s, Roseline Momo says she doesn’t want any interim arrangement for Liberia, if the legal process drags on, noting that Liberia has reached this far, and Liberians not ready to move backward. On his part, a student of the University of Liberia, Joe Kollie hopes the National Elections Commission (NEC) investigates the LP case as soon as possible so the runoff presidential election is conducted. Read more

Boakai signs Youth Manifesto, Source: The New Dawn

The Unity Party (UP) standard bearer, Vice President Joseph Boakai and the party national chairman Wilmot Paye have signed the National Youth Manifesto (NYM) indicating their overwhelming support for youth development in the country.

Federation of Liberian Youth (FLY) president Augustine Tamba said the NYM is a complementary youth development document that supports the National Youth Act of 2013, which is yet to be passed into law. Mr. Tamba says FLY strongly believes the document spells out the hopes, aspiration, and expectation of young people Liberians move toward the runoff election, and beyond, adding that the youth manifesto suggests a roadmap for a historic approach to youth development in Liberia. Read more

INTERNATIONAL LIBERIA ON LIBERIA

Liberia election was designed to be rigged: Joseph Boakai, Source: Daily Nation

Liberia's Vice President has quietly occupied the executive backseat for 12 years, but in light of electoral fraud he believes snatched away his chance at the presidency, Joseph Boakai is unleashing himself. Known as Sleepy Joe for his propensity to fall asleep at public events, the second-in-command to Africa's first elected female leader Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, is suddenly wide awake and unafraid to speak out.

"There are a lot of irregularities, we believe, most of them really calculated to make this election go the way it went," charges Boakai, sporting a trilby hat in an interview at his home in a suburb of the capital, Monrovia, on Monday. The election, he says, was "designed to be rigged".

Boakai took 28.8 percent of votes in an October 10 presidential election, behind former international footballer George Weah's 38.4 percent, meaning the two men would enter a runoff round. Read more

From Kenya to Liberia, the Judiciary Getting Bolder in Fragile African Democracies?, Sources: All Africa and This Is Africa

The nullification of the August 8 elections in by the Supreme Court of Kenya, was celebrated as a welcome precedent and Liberia has followed suit. The Liberian Supreme Court suspended the run-off election scheduled to take place on November 7, citing irregularities in the first round of elections that took place on October 10. The move is been applauded as a step in the right direction to ensure free, fair and credible polls.

The nullification of the August 8 elections by the Supreme Court of Kenya was unprecedented, in Kenya and indeed Africa. In a continent where the judiciary system favors the political class in power, the nullification of the elections came as a shock and marked a new era in the advancement of democracy not just in Kenya but on the continent.

Chief Justice David Maraga, the President of the Supreme Court of Kenya stated that elections were not an event but a process. The nullification of the Kenyan elections was celebrated by many on the continent and seen as a pacemaker for other countries to emulate. Considering that the elections were ratified by various international electoral monitoring bodies as free and fair, the decision of the court sent a signal that African matters could be handled by Africans.

Just recently, Liberia conducted its presidential elections. The results were not conclusive and a run-off was scheduled for November 7 between George Weah and Vice President Joseph Boakai. The elections have however been halted following a Supreme Court order after a challenge by Charles Brumskine from the Liberty Party. Brumskine came third in the first round of elections held on October 10. Read more