MONROVIA – In the wake of a neck-to-neck race between the governing CDC and the main opposition UP, as the 10 October presidential election results are being announced, the chairperson of the National Elections Commission (NEC), Davidetta Browne-Lansanah, has disclosed that the Commission is prepared to conduct a runoff election, should none of the two top contending candidates for the presidency obtain the 50% plus 1 constitutionally required votes to win on the first ballot.
Browne-Lansanh made the disclosure Monday, while responding to the inquiry of a journalist regarding whether the NEC was fully prepared, especially with regards to funding, to conduct a presidential runoff election, in the event none of the 20 candidates vying for the presidency wins an absolute majority in the first round.
“The Commission is prepared to conduct a second round, should there be one,” said Browne-Lansanah, who recently complained that the NEC was yet to receive from the Government of Liberia (GoL) a balance of electoral funding in the tone of over US$2.5 million specifically intended for the conduct of presidential runoff polls this year.
Prior to polling day on 10 October, Browne-Lansanah disclosed that the electoral body was yet to receive from the GoL a balance of over US$3.2 million needed to conduct the 10 October presidential and legislative elections.
At the time, the GoL had released to the NEC, a little over US$49 million, which represents 80 percent of a US$53 million budget submitted by the Commission as funding needed for the conduct of the 2023 elections.
However, Browne-Lansanah maintained at the time that the balance of over US$3.2 million intended for the conduct of an imminent presidential runoff election was yet to be released by the GoL to the NEC.
