BY Our Staff Writer
Despite a violence that marred the close of campaign in the hotly-contested District #15, the July 29, 2019 Montserrado County Senatorial and Representatives By-elections passed off peacefully on Monday, as tallying of votes continues.
The National Elections Commission (NEC), which is the constitutional body responsible to announce results is due to begin releasing provisional results in the matter of hours or days.
According to the Liberia Elections Network post elections initial report, most polling stations opened on time and the polling went on peacefully, although turnout was said to be low, partly blamed on a heavy down pour of rain. Some 700,000 persons are eligible voters in Montserrado, which President Weah and his ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) has said it owns politically.
But preliminary and unofficial results doesn’t seem to show that, as the candidate supported by the four Collaborating Political Parties, Mr. Darius Dillon appears to be leading the CDC candidate, Ms. Paulita Wie in many polling centers in areas believed to be the CDC stronghold in Clara Town, Bushrod Island, among others.
Some political observers see popular anti-CDC vote as protest vote by a large section of the Liberian public against the growing economic hardship they blamed directly on President Weah and his CDC government’s “bad governance and poor leadership style”.
Also, the daughter of the leader of the Collaborating Political Parties, Mr. Benoni Urey, Telia Urey is also said to be gathering a huge number of votes in District #15 against her opponent, Abu Kamara of the ruling CDC.
Supporters of both Dillon and Telia have reportedly been celebrating in their respective camps, while Kamara and his supporters were reportedly doing the same overnight.
The Chairman of the CDC Campaign Team, Representative Acarious Gray told the local private Prime FM Radio last evening that tally sheets in his party’s hands from most polling centers show that both CDC candidates are in “comfortable lead”.
The By-elections had been repeatedly postponed due to lack of money to fund the constitutionally required process by the Liberian government. But up to the polls, it was not clear as to whether the government had given the balance one million US dollars needed to pay NEC’s poll workers.
“We call on the government to pay the balance of the funds to enable the NEC to finance the remaining activities including payment for polling staff,” the Chairman of the National Elections Commission (NEC), Cllr. Jerome Korkoya, making an SOS call last week Monday, as he announced the new date set for the holding of the Montserrado Senatorial and District #15 Bi-election.
For the third time, the new date for the polls is Monday, July 29, 2019.
The Liberian government has so far given US$1.5 million for the holding of the Bi-elections and the NEC boss has expressed gratitude to the Liberia.
The Bi-elections are to replace one of two female Senators, the late Senator of Montserrado County and District # 15 Representative Adolph Lawrence who died recently.
The late arrival of elections materials printed abroad and other “logistical and operational reasons” have been responsible for the repeated postponement of the Montserrado polls.
Meanwhile, state radio, ELBC has reported that the Chairman of the National Elections Commission (NEC) has confirmed that the Government of Liberia has provided the balance of One-million United States Dollars for the conduct of the combined Montserrado County Senatorial and Representative By-Elections.
” The amount provided completes the total budget of 2.5 million United States Dollars submitted by the Commission, and will be used for the payment of pool workers, purchasing of fuel, training and vehicle rental among others,” Cllr. Korkoya said.