President George Weah’s governing Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) is fighting to distance itself of allegation by the opposition bloc here that it is trooping people from the counties into Monrovia to register for the stalled by-elections in Montserrado County.
Instead, the CDC is pointing fingers at the opposition for a purported letter on social media that has gone viral in which the ruling party mandates its county coordinators to truck partisans from across the country for quick voters registration in Monrovia allegedly to be executed by registrants of the National Elections Commission for the stalled by-elections in Montserrado and Electoral District#15, respectively in order to vote for CDC’s Senatorial Candidate Ms. Paulita Wie and Representative Candidate Abu Kamara respectively.But CDC national chairman Mulbah Morlu describes the communication as cheap trick, signaling defeat of the opposition.
Four collaborating opposition political parties here have endorsed Mr. Darious Dillon as their candidate for the senatorial seat and Ms. Telia Urey as their representative candidate for Electoral District #15.
Addressing a news conference in Monrovia Thursday, July 11, Chairman Morlu argues the CDC has no history of cheating in elections; rather, he says it is the former ruling Unity Party.
“The letter is fake in structure, style, in formation of CDC’s document, and totally charged with grammatical errors. This is their making, that’s what they do and been doing since 2005, 2011 and all legislative by-elections. We are far above this”, Morlu defends.
According to him, the opposition community is creating side distraction but minds of partisans of the CDC are made up to go out and campaign to win the two legislative seats.
He says the opposition is griped with fear, seeing the huge turnout of partisans and supporters of the CDC in communities, which is clear indication of defeat for the opposition.
He continues that it is shameful and national embarrassment for people who reportedly participated in the spoils of the 12 years regime of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to have created fake document and spread falsehood on social media against realities on the grounds.
The opposition here claimed on Monday, 8 July that they saw bus loads of unidentified people within premises of the Sinkor Headquarters of the National Elections Commission, adding that when confronted, many of the bus riders said they had been encouraged and transported to the Commission to obtain Voter’s Identification Cards to cast their votes in the by-elections something, they describe as deliberate efforts by elements within the National Elections Commission and the government to replay the Sinoe County scenario.
“We note with concern that the Commission had previously, in preparation for the stalled by-elections, released a Calendar of Events by which candidates have been conducting their campaign activities. This Calendar of Events provides timelines for Replacement of Lost or Damaged Voter Identification Cards, which period had ended long before 8 July 2019, the date set for the stalled by-elections”, the opposition asserts in a statement.
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According to them, this is not the first time such a strange movement has been detected, as previously, many people from different parts of Liberia had been spotted in the premises of the National Elections Commission (NEC’s) Sinkor headquarters purporting to have been “sent” to obtain their Voter Cards.
“When confronted by political parties during two (2) recent meetings of the Inter-Party Consultative Committee (IPCC), the Commission superficially addressed this strange development without providing any guarantee that nothing sinister was in the offing, even if not official.”
The National Elections Commission has dismissed the allegation as baseless, clarifying that the replacement of damaged voter’s cards had since ended, and there is no such thing like the NEC continuing replacement of damaged cards or people being trucked to its headquarters for registration. By E. J. Nathaniel Daygbor-Editing by Jonathan Browne
