Monrovia- Until June 2023, there were signs a year about a big collaboration between opposition political parties to form a formidable force that will take on the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) in October.
By Selma Lomax, [email protected]
These signs were very visible when the opposition political parties collaborated during two successive by-elections in Montserrado County, when current Senator of Montserrado County Abraham Darius Dillon was contesting against the CDC in the CDC’s strong hold, there were doubts whether Dillon could defeat the CDC in Montserrado — a rare feat of any political party in the senatorial election in the most populous county since the 2005 general and presidential election.
Until Dillon, Montserrado County had always seen the CDC producing the senators but with a concerted effort from the main opposition political parties, Dillon was able to change the narrative by defeating Thomas Fallah of the CDC.
Also, when Adolph Lawrence of the CDC died in a tragic motor accident, his seat was up for grasp and the CDC put up a candidate Abu Kamara in one of the districts where it is extremely difficult to match the CDC politically.
A newcomer in Liberian politics, Telia Urey, daughter of businessman and standard bearer of the All Liberian Party (ALP) took up the challenge to go all out against the CDC in its stronghold district. A young Telia was backed by the opposition political parties including the Unity Party, Alternative Native Congress, Liberty Party (ALP) and others.
Telia, who was not very much politically known until the by-election, was able to put up a strong fight in the CDC stronghold and came very close to defeating the CDC candidate in a tense process that resulted to violence, destruction of Telia’s vehicles, amongst others due to the high level of competitiveness of the political process.
Judging from the defeat of the CDC during the senatorial election and the closeness of the contest between CDC candidate Kamara and Telia, the opposition community thought that only a strong collaboration would be able to unseat the CDC in ensuing elections.
That thought from the opposition community led to the formation of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) which many at the time embraced and saw as the best alternative to unseating the CDC.
With less than 120 days to the conduct of general and presidential elections, the dream of opposition collaboration has become a complete failure. First, the CPP has collapsed with the Unity Party putting up its presidential candidate, same as the ANC, while the Liberty Party is now divided between the Unity Party and the ANC.
The Urey’s Fallout
When news of Amb. Boakai naming his running mate started to make rounds, it was widely speculated that he would pick Henry Costa, a close associate of Mr. Benoni Urey.
Costa and Boakai held some meetings during the visit of Boakai to the United States of America early this year, where several photographs surfaced showing the two men together.
Following the pronouncement by Boakai to name Nimba County Senator Jeremiah Koung as his running mate, Benoni Urey has been very mute with reports that he was contemplating abandoning his close association with Boakai.
Benoni Urey was not present during the naming ceremony by Amb. Boakai of his running mate, further fueling the speculations that a fallout with the Unity Party and Amb. Boakai was on the card.
The ALP political leader is yet to make any public statement about his stance in terms of political support during the upcoming election, with strong indications that he might not contest as a Presidential candidate as was also reported that he was eying being named as running mate to Amb. Boakai.
While the ALP political leader remains mute on his political associations and future ahead of the October elections, his daughter, Telia, has publicly resigned from a group of ardent supporters of Amb. Boakai known as the JNB Tact Team.
Telia, in announcing her resignation from the JNB Tact Team, indicated that she was removed from the group’s chartroom and as such thought it is better to resign from the team.
Her resignation has sparked further speculations that the Urey’s have completely broken ranks with Unity Party and Amb. Boakai.
Political observers think that Telia would possibly contact and seek advice from her father before making such a big political decision amid the fallout between Henry Costa and the Unity Party over the running mate snub.
While the ALP political leader remains mute on his next political move, the fallout between Costa, Telia and the Unity Party is seen as the beginning of a big fallout between the Unity party, Amb. Boakai and the Urey’s. This could be a huge blow for the Unity Party as each of these individuals has some small political support base around the country and during political processes, the smallest number of votes are important.
The upcoming months to October will be very interesting in the opposition community with these kinds of fallouts.