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that he could not have anticipated two years earlier, in 2015, that two years
later, in 2017, Counsellor Charles W. Brumskine would have selected him to
be his vice presidential running mate. Unlike other political positions such as
a senator or member of the House of Representatives, they declare, the vicepresidential position is not one that a person desires since the choice of who
becomes a vice-presidential candidate is not dependent on the person
himself but on the decision of the person seeking to be president.
Summarily, the appellants contend that the post of vice presidential
aspirant is politically complementary to the Presidential Candidate, that no
one can independently demand the position of vice presidential candidate
without being a complement to a presidential aspirant and as such no one
desires of being a running mate to another prior to the selection by the latter
of the former. Therefore, co-appellant Karnwea did not desire or could not
have desired two years ago to be a running mate to Cllr. Charles Walker
Brumskine, the Standard Bearer of co-appellant Liberty Party. Here is how
they articulated the argument:
“It is common knowledge that to become a vice presidential candidate one
does not ask a presidential candidate to make him/her his running mate.
Instead, it is the other way around. An individual desires to run for the
presidency; his/her desire is manifested when s/he announces his/her
intention to run; s/he then goes through a process of caucuses, primaries, or
other procedures, as may be determined by the rules of his/her political
party. After becoming the nominee of his party, he then identifies and asks
someone to be his running mate. Stated differently, no one desires to be
the running mate of another; it is the presidential candidate that selects
his/her running mate. In the case at bar, Co-appellant Karnwea could not
have desired to have been the running mate of Cllr. Brumskine. Even if he
did, he could not have done so until or before Cllr. Brumskine announced
his candidacy….. Cllr. Brumskine did not ask Co-appellant Karnwea to be his
running mate until early March 2017, and until then Co-appellant Karnwea
was neither running for a political office, nor did he desire to run for one.”
For its part, the Respondent National Elections Commission argued that
the Supreme Court, in its decision in the Polson case, clearly answered the
question of the intent of the Legislature in passing sections 5.1 and 5.2 when
the Court opined: "The exhaustive sanction theory subscribed to and
advanced by Petitioner Polson-Mappy on this question is hugely flaw. We
note the primary object of the Code of Conduct was disqualification from
running for elected public offices of all public officials appointed by the
President pursuant to Article 56(a) of the Liberian Constitution. It was the