MONROVIA – Women’s rights advocate Lisa Tenneh Diasay has decisively defeated VOA Liberia Correspondent Dennise Nimpson by a margin of 91 votes in the presidential race of the Female Journalists of Liberia (FeJAL).
By: Blamo N. Toe, Contributing Writer
The newly elected President of FeJAL is also the Chief Executive Officer of Women’s TV Liberia, a media platform established to prioritize the voices of women and give girls the space to raise their issues in the larger society across the country.
The elections of the Female Journalists Association of Liberia held at its headquarters in Paynesville outside Monrovia brought together almost 300 members of the association, including several of their male counterparts who do not have voting rights but served as a support arm and motivation to the process.
The contested seats include President, Vice President, Secretary General, and Financial Secretary. Madams Diasay and Nimpson vied for the highest seat, followed by Madam Oretha Bundoo Seh, who contested alongside Diasay and battled Nimpson’s Vivian Nah-Mulbah for the VP post.
For the Secretary General and Financial Secretary posts, only Madam Lisa Diasay contested, and her opponents, Patience Baye-Koromah and Famatta E. Thomas, were declared winners unopposed (white ballot).
On behalf of the Elections Committee Chair Olive Stevenson, the Co-chair EC Jelbeh Johnson announced Madam Diasay as the winner for the presidential post with a total of 156 votes over her main rival Madam Nimpson’s 62 votes.
Another member of the EC, Madam Cecelia Clarke, also declared Madam Oretha Bundoo Seh the winner for the VP post with 150 votes over her main opponent Oretha Bundoo Vivian Nah-Mulbah’s 70 votes.
Following the pronouncement of the final results by the EC, Dennise Nimpson conceded defeat via her official Facebook page and congratulated the President-elect, Lisa Tenneh Diasay.
Addressing jubilant supporters after the results, the President-elect lauded her rival Nimpson and her vice for allowing the will of the people to prevail, terming it as the beauty of democracy.
Madam Diasay further called for reconciliation and unity among all members of the association, saying the elections are over, and it is now time for everyone to look at the bigger picture of FeJAL—one of the outstanding auxiliaries of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL).