Liberia Elections: NEC set to announce provisional results today at 5pm

Chairman of the Liberian National Elections Commission (NEC), Jerome George Korkoya has appealed to the general public to accept and believe only elections results from the NEC.

The National Elections Commission (NEC) in a tweet on its official handle said "Liberians! Please tune in today Thursday at 5.pm on UNMIL ,ELBC and most of the other Radio stations for an update on the election results."

In an address NEC Chairman said he will today, October 12, begin announcing official preliminary results of the October 10 Presidential and Legislative elections.

“Let me once again admonish everyone that the announcement of official results of the elections is within the power of the NEC. It is the only constituted authority legally allowed to make pronouncements of national elections results,” he said.

He added that celebrations coming from candidates and their supporters in the name of taking leads should not in any way cause problems for others as no results are yet official unless the NEC makes the announcement.

Following frauds discovered at precinct #33019 in Nimba County District #4, the National Elections Commission (NEC) has nullified its results ahead of the announcement of the official provisional results. He said there will a re-run of votes in District # 4.

Korkoya noted that “The election materials for this precinct, #33019, containing four polling stations, were delivered to and signed by Electoral Supervisor, Prince Bollie, but for some reason(s) only three polling places were set up and not four as should have been the case.”

He said an official report coming from the precinct is that a disruption of the voting process, allegedly incited by a local politician,  Rufus Zerlee, a candidate for the House of Representatives, through the Coalition for Liberia’s Progress (CLP), went on.

“The voting was compromised in the precinct, according to information we have received. The NEC has launched an inquiry and made a decision to quarantine the materials from the precinct,” Korkoya noted.

He added that polling will be rescheduled at the precinct shortly.

He apologized on behalf of the Commission for the challenges experienced by voters and observers during the voting period.

“The large queues, and at times longer than expected processing times in polling places, were unfortunate and the NEC apologizes to voters for the long waiting times in some places,” he said.

He also acknowledged the efforts of polling staff who worked tirelessly through the day and night.

Noting that the election processes are not over yet, Korkoya called on “all political parties and candidates as well as voters to wait patiently for the release of official results.”