Anxiety over slow poll results
2005-10-13 23:05
Monrovia - Anxiety is creeping through the Liberian capital as citizens await the slow arrival of results from this week's vote to install a post-war elected government, with some parties chafing at the arbitrary way the tallies are being released.
National Electoral Commission (NEC) chairperson Frances Johnson Morris said on Thursday morning that on the strength of results from 278 of 3 070 polling stations across 14 of 15 counties in the forested West African nation, footballing icon George Weah was leading with 23.7% of the votes cast.
Weah's main rival, one-time World Bank economist Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, got about 88 080 votes, with 14.9%.
The time it is taking officials to release of the results contrasts so sharply with unofficial reports blaring from the host of radio stations in the capital, renewed misgivings are spreading about the NEC's impartiality among a population long-used to vote tampering and electoral corruption.
Suspicions arising
"It is taking too long and they have not even talked about Monrovia yet, even though we have the most voters," complained Gabriel Johnson, one of dozens of people who bought for five Liberty (about 10 US cents) a photocopied list of results compiled from radio broadcasts.
"They should not be so slow, otherwise people will mistrust them."
Presidential representatives have registered other concerns about the NEC's handling of results, particularly since the tallies released tend to fluctuate wildly based on the regions represented in the count.
"It is very hard on our supporters to see us go from third place to off the radar and replaced by a candidate who will only get support in his hometown," said Israel Akinsanya, a campaign manager for Charles Brumskine, a businessman lawyer who has surged ahead in unofficial tallies.
"We respect the process, but really, the NEC should be more responsible and remember how vested Liberians are in keeping this election on the up and up."
Brumskine was back in third, at 11.8% of officially tabulated votes cast, on Thursday morning.
Logistical problems behind delay
In response to criticism, Johnson Morris stressed the inaccessibility of many of the polling stations and the logistics in bringing and returning ballots from remote areas in a country with just 200km of paved roads.
"People are not understanding this procedure, or the process ... the person is only in the lead for the numbers we have so far. We still have a long way to go," she said.
"Some people say we have already begun cheating - how ridiculous," she said. "I understand people are illiterate, but you the educated people have to help and the press is not making it easy at all."
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday extended warm congratulations to Liberia, home to a massive integrated UN peacekeeping and humanitarian mission that has cost nearly $1.5bn over two years.