6
the NEC, in announcing the results of the elections, made the specific notation
that out of the two million one hundred thousand plus registered voters, a
total of one million seven hundred thousand or 74.5 percent (74.5%) of the
total number of registered voters had actually voted in the elections and,
further, that a total of eighty-eight thousand five hundred seventy-four
(88,574) votes were declared as invalid votes.
Simultaneously with the announcement of the Final Results of the
elections, and because none of the presidential candidates had attained an
absolute majority of the valid votes cast, the NEC announced, through its
Chairman, Cllr. Jerome Korkoya, that a run-off election would be held on
November 7, 2017 for the presidential and vice presidential race and would
involve the candidates of the two political parties (the Coalition for
Democratic Change and the Unity Party) that had the highest votes in the
October 10, 2017 elections.
Presidential candidate Charles Walker Brumskine and vice presidential
candidate Harrison S. Karnwea of the Liberty Party, and all Liberty Party
candidates for the House of Representatives, as well as the Liberty Party itself,
not being satisfied with the Final Results announced by the NEC, and believing
that the manner in which the elections were conducted was in violation of the
Constitution and Elections Law, as well as the Rules and Regulations of the
NEC, including the deprivation of the rights of voters, and that the process was
tainted with gross irregularities and fraud, challenged the results announced
by the NEC, sought the cancellation by the NEC of the elections and prayed
the NEC conduct a rerun of the elections. In their thirty-eight (38) count
complaint, filed with the NEC on October 23, 2017, the complainants outlined
what they said were specific incidents which supported their claims of the
constitutional violations, irregularities and fraud of the election. In order that
there is a full appreciation of the claims and contentions of the complainants,
an assessment of the magnitude of the claims in relation to the prayer made,
and for the benefit of the analysis which we shall make later in this Opinion,
we quote verbatim the said complaint as follows, to wit:
“THE COMPLAINT
Complainants file this complaint under the authority of Article 83(c) of the
Liberian Constitution which states: "...Any party or candidate who complains