Monrovia, December 8, 2017 – The Supreme court of Liberia has lifted the stay order on the runoff election. The decision of the court was contained in the final ruling of the complaints filed by the Liberty party and of the Unity. “The appellants cannot cite few places where they believe there were frauds and have the court to believe that such frauds occurred throughout the country.” Philip Banks said in the ruling on Thursday. “There were thousands of representatives who contested in the elections, only few complained about frauds. There were 20 presidential and vice-presidential candidates, only two complained. Though this does not mean that elections were free and fair but it does not mean that if there were frauds, those frauds had impact on the results Under such circumstances, the court cannot subscribe to the cancelation of the October 10, 2017 elections.” He added. The Supreme Court has therefore ordered the National Election Commission to go ahead with the holding of the runoff. “In view of the forthgoing it is the considered decision of this court that the ruling of the NEC board of commissioners declaring a run-off election is hereby affirmed however, with the modifications as followed: 1 – That the NEC is mandated and ordered to fully comply with the standard publication of the FRR. 2 – that the NEC is mandated to ensure a clean up of the FRR to ensure that the ID numbers and photos of voters are properly placed. 3 – That the FRR be available in public copy to all election magistrates and polling places across the country. 4 – That giving the fact that the FRR is the only legal document that speaks to the eligibility of the voters, the NEC is hereby prohibited to permit any one whose name is not on the FRR to vote. 5 – That addendum to the FRR be limited to those listed in the NEC polling and counting. 6 – That poll watchers who are not registered to their places of assignment should not be allowed to vote at those places. 7 – That the chairman and the board of commissioners of the NEC are hereby prohibited from any public and other announcements relating to any matters which may grow out of the runoff election. Lastly, That the stay order issued on November 6, 2017, growing out of the writ of prohibition, filed by the first appellant LP, is hereby lifted and the NEC is hereby ordered to proceed with the scheduling of the runoff elections.” The ruling stipulates.
