Monrovia – Supporters of Telia Urey, a candidate on the ticket of the opposition collaborating parties for the House of Representatives in the by-elections just held in District #15 Montserrado County gathered at the headquarters of the National Elections Commission (NEC) Friday in demand of results.
Henry Karmo [email protected]
The supporters are suspicious of vote rigging in favor of Mr. Abu Kamara the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change’s candidate.
Speaking FrontPageAfrica, some supporters claimed that preliminary results released by the NEC are not fair because the numbers from the area where NEC tallied were unrealistic. “We want our votes; the NEC must be truth to themselves and release the realistic votes that reflect the will of the people. We have copy of every tally sheet and we know the numbers we have. It wouldn’t take a whole month to count results for a district of 39,000 registered voters.”
Results announced so far by NEC show that out of the 94 polling centers in Montserrado District #15, 65 centers have reported Kamara accumulating 5,515 votes accounting for 45.95% while Urey of the All Liberian Party received 4,540 votes which accounts for 37.89 percent.
Supporters assembling at the commission’s headquarters Friday promised to continue their protest until the NEC release the votes and give them the results they deserve.
Early Friday morning, Senator Steve Zargo(Liberty Party, Lofa County), chairman of LP, blamed the growing political tension in Liberia to the repeated delay in releasing the result of the just ended in Montserrado County.
The Senator said the delay is unwarranted and has the ability to undermine the credibility of the elections. However, Cllr. Jerome Korkoyah, Chair of the Commission told the Voice of America Friday that the delay is not unusual.
“The timeline stipulated by the constitution is 15 days within which we can give results. And, several factors are taken into consideration. It depends on the kind of election, and Montserrado is a highly contested county. It’s a very, very, very tough, and under the law, once you have complaints being filed by any of the candidates or any of the candidates for that matter, you have to resolve that before you even proceed.”
FrontPageAfrica has learned that NEC is likely to announce a recount or revote of the process in the wake of complaints from Ms. Urey.
Senator Zargo warned Friday that NEC would be held liable for any political tension that might erupt as a result of “deliberate delay” in the releasing of the elections. “Our candidate has won the by-election in District #15 and the people’s will must prevail.”
Senator Zargo also called on the religious community, the international Community to take note of the growing wave of violence being orchestrated by the ruling CDC. He accused the Mayor of Monrovia, Jefferson Koijee, who happens to be the chairman of the Youth league of the CDC of instigating violence through a press conference.
“These are troubling times as though we are just from another civil war. Poverty is on the rise and our people are getting hopeless by the day. It is time we rally forces with the opposition to save our country from slaying down the mud,” Senator Zargo averred.
Meanwhile a source in the NEC has hinted FrontPageAfrica that a re-run in 20 of the polling places in District 15 Montserrado County is imminent. The source says information received so far shows that there were some major discrepancies in a lot of areas, some of which have been quarantined. “Our people messed up, I can confirm to you that a re-run is eminent,” the source concluded.
NEC is expected to announce final results in the Montserrado County Senatorial race later today. The opposition Abraham Darius Dillon is in a massive lead against his closest rival Paulita CC Wie of the ruling CDC.