World

Liberia challenger says won't take part in run-off

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Tubman, a Harvard- and Cambridge-educated lawyer who worked at the United Nations, said the election process was biased against him and called on supporters to take part in a peaceful protest on Saturday and to boycott the vote next week.

He also said he would not recognise any government formed as a result of the polls. But the election commission chief said nothing would stop the poll from taking place as planned.

Johnson-Sirleaf's camp said Tubman was boycotting a poll he knew he could not win but said Liberians would not allow their country to be dragged into further trouble.

The culmination of Liberia's second post-war poll -- which will test progress in stabilising a nation that is rich in minerals but was crippled by years of war -- has been marred by allegations of bias at the election commission.

Copyright Reuters, 2011