Nine Liberian opposition parties, including President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf's two main challengers, have said they will reject the results of this week's presidential election, alleging massive fraud, an opposition official said.
According to results released on Friday, Johnson-Sirleaf had extended her lead with 45.4 percent of the votes, ahead of Winston Tubman of the CDC party on 29.5 percent, but she was still short of the outright majority required for a first-round win.
"We declare the results being reported by the National Election Commission as fraud and (they) are consequently declared null and void by all parties signatory to this release," according to a statement read over the phone on Saturday to Reuters by a top CDC official.
The official, who asked not to be named, said the statement had been signed by nine parties representing eight of the country's 14 presidential candidates, including Tubman and third-placed former rebel Prince Johnson. An official from the Carter Center, an election watchdog, said they were aware of the statement and added that they had not seen any evidence of fraud. The election commission said on Friday that about half the ballots had been counted.