Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s spokesman on Monday denied allegations from her own party that she meddled in this month’s presidential election. At a news conference on Sunday, leaders from Johnson Sirleaf’s Unity Party accused the president of holding inappropriate private meetings with election magistrates before the Oct. 10 vote. They accused her of showing greed “in its most callous form” with the “intent of disrupting the fragile peace of Liberia”, and backed a challenge to the first round results brought by other parties before the country’s election commission. Unity Party’s candidate, Vice President Joseph Boakai, placed runner-up in the first-round with 28.8 percent of the vote to front-runner George Weah’s 38.4 percent, setting up a second round run-off scheduled for Nov. 7.
“The office of the president wishes to state unequivocally that these allegations are completely baseless and an unfortunate attempts by agents provocateurs to undermine Liberia’s democratic process,” Johnson Sirleaf’s spokesman, Jerolinmek Piah, told reporters.
He said that all of the president’s meetings with election officials were “consistent with her constitutional role to ensure that the process was supported”.
Full Article: Liberia’s Johnson Sirleaf rejects accusations of election interference.