The Four collaborating political parties have condemned the National Elections commission (NEC) for its repeated postponements of the pending By-Elections in Montserrado County. The Liberty Party, Unity Party, All Liberians Party and the Alternative National Congress believe that the action of NEC is a calculated attempt to delay the process and create avenue for the CDC led Government to rig the elections through the fraud Mechanism allegedly instituted by the Commission.
The by-elections which was set for July 8, 2019, according to a credible source is now slated for July 18, 2019.
Speaking during a press Conference yesterday, July 9, 2019, at the Liberty party Headquarters four collaborating parties in a press statement read on behalf of the group by the deputy secretary for press and propaganda of Liberty party Edward Kla Toomey said, the measures put into place by the Commission to demand payment for lost and damage voter cards purely undermines the credibility and thereby exposes the commission to the path of dishonesty.
According to the Four Collaborating parties, recently, “we openly condemn and warn the NEC against the repeated postponements of the conduct of the pending By-Elections in Montserrado County with the aim of buying time for the CDC as they strive to institute their fraud machineries to rig the elections. We at the same time announced the postponement of our Campaign Launch which was earlier scheduled for July, 8 but had to be postponed in the face of the latest in a series of postponements by the NEC, and promised that we would inform you of the new launching date if it were prudent”.
The opposition group said, there are “efforts by the CDC–led Government to secretly and criminally prevail on the NEC to continue the replacement of Voters Registration Cards, or Issue new Voters Registration Cards only for people identified to be CDCians, following the expiration of the Official deadline for the conduct of said exercise. Yesterday, busses parked with CDCians were seen driving from the Headquarters of the CDC and District -15, to the Headquarters of the National Elections Commissions for said purpose. This latest action by the CDC is one of many reasons for the continuous delays in equipping the NEC to proceed with the conduct of the elections and a part of the grand scheme to rig the elections”.
The Opposition state further said “It can be recalled that a couple of weeks ago while speaking at the campaign launch of the CDC Senatorial Candidate, Mr. Weah emphatically threatened to deprive the Oppositions and the people of Montserrado County of a well-deserving opposition victory in the pending By-elections. Recent events, particularly the continuous, unwarranted postponements of the elections, coupled with attempts to criminally issue voter Card to CDCians, are a manifestation of just how Mr. Weah hopes to deny, in his words “ the Ureys and Dillons” of winning elections in Liberia once he is president. We would like to inform the CDC and the NEC that the collaboration of the four biggest opposition political parties takes these elections seriously and would resist any and all attempts and efforts to rub the people of District 15 and Montserrado County at large of the victory and leaders they so deserve. While we continue to rely on our insider sources at the NEC and other relevant government institutions to keep us abreast with issues unfolding within the NEC, we call on all of our supporters to remain steadfast and report news of any information regarding plans to rig the elections”.
“Upon raising alarms against attempts to secretly replace or issue new Voter Registration Cards to CDCians at the Headquarters of the NEC, we have been informed that the process has either been shifted to an undisclosed location in District 15, or there are plans to do so. We want to assure you that we are following this situation closely and would do everything possible to prevent it even if it requires rallying our supporters to institute a mass action, they indicated.
The Collaborating parties furthered that “we have also received news of the government’s plans to deploy heavily armed Police Officers across Montserrado County on the eve of the elections for two or more reasons : firstly ,to frighten electorates. Secondly, to spark up violence at certain voting precincts. That during said violent eruptions, those armed police men would forcibly take hold of ballot boxes and afford the CDC the opportunity to do ballot stuffing. There will also be people in the field with money to bribe our poll watchers”.
The statement also opined that, “we want to assure Mr. Weah and his CDC that just as they do, the Oppositions also attach so much importance to these elections and would do everything, humanly possible to resist efforts to rig the elections. We know for a fact that the CDC-led government has in less than two years become very unpopular and sees rigging of the pending By-Elections as an opportunity to create a false representation or inflation of its image. We, the collaboration of UP, LP, ANC and LP, and our many supporters who are not necessarily members of political parties but who see these elections as a perfect opportunity to remind Mr. weah of his misrule, want to inform our International Partners to carefully follow these unfolding developments and make the necessary interventions to save our country from another electoral violence. We can’t afford to pretend not to remember the history of electoral violence in our country and the attendant consequences they have had on our governance process. These elections are a referendum with a single proposition: that is whether or not our people are happy with the current dismal performance of the CDC-led Government so as to increase its numerical strength at the Legislature”.
Turning to its many supporters, the opposition said, “we once again ask you to remain steadfast and come out on Saturday, July 13, 2019 for the grand launch of our campaign. Do not be moved by these scare tactics and grand schemes to rig the elections as we all will do everything possible to resist such menace and protect our ballots vigilantly. Come out in your numbers on Saturday so that together we can send a shock in the spines of your Oppressors. Your Silence or neutrality will only benefit them”.
“The Election of Telia Urey as representative of District 11 and Darius Dillon as Senator of Montserrado County will mark the beginning of efforts to show the CDC the exit doors in 2023 and 2023 respectively. Come out on elections day and vote these two candidates. Let this be the biggest turn out of a By-election in the history of our country”, the statement concluded.
Comments are closed.