Liberia's Tubman still not ready to participate in run-off

MONROVIA (AFP) - Liberia's Winston Tubman, who is threatening to boycott a run-off presidential poll next week, said Monday his participation is not yet assured despite his demand being met that the elections chief resign.

"(James) Fromayan's resignation is a step in the right direction but by no means does it address fully the conditions that will emphasize a free, fair and transparent electoral process and guarantee our participation in the run-off," Tubman told journalists.

The official position of his CDC party "remains that we are committed to moving forward and that we will participate in the run-off elections when all of the additional checks and balance mechanisms are put in place," he added.

The Congress for Democratic Change has said it will boycott the run-off, after claiming the first round vote on October 11 was flawed. Among their demands was that Fromayan step down.

"I am resigning to give way to peace. I do not want to be the obstacle to the holding of the run-off election" on November 8, Fromayan said in his resignation letter on Sunday.

Tubman placed second in the first round of voting with 32.7 percent, while incumbent President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf came first with 43.9 percent, but failed to win an absolute majority.

The 70-year-old Harvard-trained lawyer has accused election officials of tampering with ballot boxes, and wants a "neutral body" to oversee the tallying of votes up until the point where results are captured electronically.

Sirleaf was quoted in local media as saying opposition threats to boycott the election were merely "scare tactics".

In a statement issued Monday, the president accepted Fromayan's resignation, saying he was doing so "as not to become a distraction in this crucial national process."

She said co-chair Elizabeth Nelson would take over as chairman.

The fraud accusations raised tensions in the country which is marking only its second election since a 14-year conflict which ended in 2003 leaving some 250,000 dead.