The US Embassy in Liberia has confidence in the integrity of the October 10 elections.
First-round winner George Weah, a former international football star, was initially set to face the runner-up, Vice-President Joseph Boakai, to determine who will replace current term-limited, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.
The third-place finisher, Charles Brumskine, contested the outcome of the first round, claiming gross irregularities had occurred and accusing NEC officials of fraud, an allegation the body denies.
The embassy in a statement said: “No accredited Liberian, regional, or international observation group suggested [link] that the cumulative anomalies observed reflect systemic issues sufficient to undermine the fundamental integrity of the electoral process.
“Where issues were identified in the first round of voting, we urge the National Elections Commission to undertake corrective actions before, during, and after the runoff election.
“The U.S. Embassy urges the top two finishers, who collectively received the support of two-thirds of Liberian voters, to focus on constructively engaging each other and voters as they prepare to compete in the runoff.”
Liberia’s Supreme Court ordered the elections commission to fully examine Brumskine’s allegations, a decision likely to push back the run-off date by weeks and even creates the possibility of the first round being re-run.
A number of first-round candidates, including Boakai, have publicly backed Brumskine’s challenge to the results and echoed his fraud allegations.
The dispute led Johnson-Sirleaf, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, to state in a radio address following the Supreme Court decision that Liberia’s democracy was “under threat”, without elaborating.
The statement stated: “Efforts by any actors to impede the expressed will of Liberia’s people for personal ambition could risk goodwill and future investments in Liberia by international partners.”
Liberia, Africa’s oldest modern republic, was founded by freed U.S. slaves in 1847, and maintains a special relationship with the United States.
The West African timber and rubber producer is still trying to heal the wounds of one of the continent’s most brutal civil wars, which ended nearly 15 years ago.
A successful vote would be its first democratic transfer of power in more than seven decades.