Launches CDC Campaign Begging Liberians To “Trust Me With Your Presidency”
As Rep. Acarous Gray Cautions First-Time Voters Against Electoral Violence
PHOTO: Pres. George Manneh Weah (above) and Rep. Acarous Gray
By Our Staff Writer
In his bid to get six more years in the Executive Mansion, President George Manneh Weah and his ruling CDC party have launched their campaign, days after NEC officially opened the campaign period for the October 10 2023 presidential and legislative elections.
“Trust me with your presidency,” the international football icon-turned politician told the crowd of CDC supporters.
President Weah and his CDC are boasting of “a one-round victory” in the upcoming elections.
“The last five years have been marked by unprecedented development more than any government in the country’s history and fixing the roads,” the President said at a campaign rally in electoral districts 7 and 8. “[We have] more development, including building hospitals, roads, and the provision of free education to Liberian students,” President Weah stated.
Weah will be facing 19 other contenders at the polls in just two months’ time, including the presidential candidate of the main opposition Unity Party (UP), former Vice President Joseph Boakai who along with other opposition candidates have vowed to make the Liberian leader a “one-term president”.
The CDC kicked off their 2023 campaign in Montserado County which used to be its stronghold until it was politically wrestled from them by the opposition in 2020, when the former CPP coalition of Senator Darius Dillon swept the Senatorial seat.
At his campaign launch in Montserrado District #8 where CDC incumbent Representative Acarous Gray is frantically on a third-term election bid, President Weah told the Liberian people:
“You elected me for six years and after two years, Coronavirus came but I will not give an excuse because of Coronavirus because even after the two years Coronavirus took from us I still work. When you go to the polling places, I know you are clever but please check for number 18 and vote for me,” the President said in an appeal.
Meanwhile, Rep. Gray has called on first-time voters of the CDC to guide against electoral violence in order to safeguard Liberia’s peace and stability.
The CDC Montserrado District # 8 Lawmakers’ caution comes just days after the weekend’s provocative action by CDC supporters who toted casket bearing the photo of UP’s presidential candidate Joseph Boakai in the streets of Monrovia.
Their action was widely condemned both locally and internationally.
Both the CDC and the other political parties and independent candidates have committed themselves to peaceful October 10 elections by signing the Farmington River Declaration calling for nonviolent elections.
The Liberian News Agency quoted Gray as highlighting to his young supporters, the importance of maintaining Liberia’s hard-earned peace, citing that protecting the peace of the country during and after the General and Presidential Elections will ensure the growth and development of Liberia.
Among those who condemned last weekend’s action by CDC supporters was a political alley of President Weah, Bomi County Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe, Jr. who said in a press statement:
“It deeply saddens me to see a casket with the image of the lead opposition leader, Amb. Joseph N. Boakai, Sr., of the Unity Party, paraded in such a manner.
As someone who has declared support and endorsed the second term bid of President Weah, I must emphasize that I cannot condone any actions that undermine the very essence of our hard-earned democracy,” Sen. Snowe asserted.
BELOW IS NEC’S CAMPAIGN PERIOD ACTIVITIES:
For the 2023 General Elections, the following activities may be done during the official campaign period announced by the Commission:
- Campaign Rallies;
- Holding a march, parade, or other assemblies for the purpose of soliciting votes and/or promoting an individual aspirant or candidate by way of speech, billboards, pictures, banners, posters, placards, or any other printed materials that tend to promote an individual aspirant or candidate for an elective public office;
- Posters, handbills, and house-to-house contact with voters;
- Publishing or distributing campaign literature, posters, flyers, buttons, T-shirts, caps, or other promotional items designed to support the election of any aspirant/candidate for elective public office.
- Making contact with voters using print and electronic or social media or radio/TV interviews;
- Forming of an association, or others for the purpose of soliciting votes and/or promoting an individual aspirant or candidate by way of speech, pictures, banners, posters or any other printed materials that tend to promote an individual aspirant or candidate for an elective public office;