MONROVIA, Liberia ? Violence broke out at the headquarters of the country's opposition party and at least one person was killed Monday, less than 24 hours before Liberia's presidential runoff that is being viewed as a test of the country's fragile peace after a devastating civil war.
Monrovia has been tense ever since Winston Tubman, the leader of the opposition Congress for the Democratic Change party, called for supporters to boycott Tuesday's vote. International observers have rejected his allegation that the electoral process is rigged in the incumbent's favor, and analysts say Tubman is pulling out of the vote because he knows the CDC will lose.
Inside the opposition headquarters was a scene of chaos: The body of a man in his 20s lay in a pool of blood. Nearby another four people were screaming in pain with what appeared to be bullet wounds. Thousands of others were standing and shouting.
Tubman and his running mate, former soccer star George Weah, were trying to calm down angry fans. It was not immediately clear what set off the violence, but it appeared to have degenerated when security forces opened fire on demonstrators. The protesters had gathered to rally support for the boycott.
At least 100 Liberian security forces and United Nations peacekeepers had fanned out across the neighborhood, setting up roadblocks and securing the perimeter. United Nations peacekeepers drove tanks to the area and helicopters flew overhead. The soldiers continued to fire tear gas at the agitated mass inside the CDC building.
Tubman trailed incumbent Ellen Johnson Sirleaf by a more than 10-point margin in the first round of voting in October, finishing with around 30 percent of the vote to Sirleaf's more than 40 percent. Sirleaf, a Harvard-educated economist who was just awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, has since been endorsed by the third-place finisher and it appeared likely that she would win the Nov. 8 runoff.
Tubman's boycott will not stop Sirleaf from winning, but it could damage the credibility of the election and undercut her victory since she will be running unopposed.
Electoral law allows candidates to pull out before the start of the election, but once the election is already in progress, ballots cannot be altered and so both Tubman and Sirleaf will appear on Tuesday's ballot, said Alexander Bick, the head of the Carter Center's observation mission in Liberia.
The Carter Center, as well as the United States and the United Nations Security Council have issued sharp rebukes, calling on Tubman to reverse his decision.
As he walked between the wounded, Weah told The Associated Press that the violence is further proof that the runoff needs to be rescheduled.
"With what happened I don't think holding the election tomorrow is the right thing to do," he said.
Liberia emerged from a 14-year civil war in 2003 after rebels encircled Monrovia, forcing its warlord leader Charles Taylor to accept an offer of exile. Sirleaf became the continent's first elected woman president when she defeated soccer star George Weah in the 2005 race. Since then she has been credited with maintaining peace, and with luring hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign investment.
Unemployment and poverty remain among the highest in the world, however, and Tubman attempted to paint Sirleaf as elitist and her administration as corrupt. He threatened to boycott soon after the results from the first round began trickling in following the Oct. 11 poll.
The government agreed to change the head of the electoral commission, whom Tubman said was biased toward the ruling party. But last Friday, Tubman said the concessions did not go far enough and that he was not sure the vote would be fair. He asked for the election to be delayed by up to two months, and when that demand was not met, he gave a speech calling on his supporters to boycott the vote.
"This decision is unfortunate for the electoral process in Liberia, and unfortunate for Liberia's young democracy. The result is that there won't be anything at stake," said International Crisis Group West Africa Director Gilles Yabi, the author of a report on the country's electoral process. "It's motivated by the fact that they (Tubman's party) think they don't have a chance. It's a way to stain the election. To create a problem of credibility for the president."
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Callimachi reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press photographer Rebecca Blackwell contributed to this report.
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