Liberia: Ruling CDC Concedes Senatorial Race to Opposition Dillon; But Claims District 15 Legislative Seat Win

Monrovia – With results from 65 out of 94 polling centers announced by the National Elections Commission, in both the Montserrado County Senatorial and District #15 legislative by-elections, the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change have conceded that the opposition candidate, Mr. Abraham Darius Dillon has won the Senatorial by-elections to fill the void left by late Senator Geraldine Doe-Sheriff.

In a statement Thursday, signed by the party’s chair Mulbah Morlu, the party is however claiming victory in the legislative race that has opposition candidate Telia Urey so far trailing Mr. Abu Kamara of the ruling party.
In results announced Wednesday, Mr. Kamara has so far accumulated 5,515 votes accounting for 45.95% , while Telia Urey of the All Liberian Party received 4,540 votes which accounts for 37.89 percent.

The four opposition political parties – Unity Party, Liberty Party, Alternative National Congress and All Liberian Party-backed candidate, Mr. Abraham Darius Dillon already appears to be the runaway winner in the Senatorial race, way ahead of his main challenger, Wie. Mr. Dillon has so far received 53, 270 votes representing 53.88%, while Ms. Wie of the CDC has so far accumulated 36,531 votes representing 36.95%.

Below is full text of Mr. Morlu’s statement

Fellow Liberians and our great peace-loving supporters, we greet you this morning from the Headquarters of the Mighty Coalition for Democratic Change. We again want to appreciate all Liberians, especially our partisans and supporters for braving the storm to participate in these by-elections. We especially want to thank the gallant men and women of District 15 for coming out en masse to cast their votes.

We fought a good fight and have reached a final conclusion, in the aftermath of the National Elections Commission official announcement of preliminary results, which projects Mr. Abu B. Kamara as winner of District #15. Whilst congratulating Mr. Kamara, the CDC as Liberia’s biggest democratic institution, likewise congratulates Mr. Abraham Darius Dillion of the Liberty Party as the presumptive winner of the Senatorial Elections of Montserrado County.

In the history of our democratic struggles, we have always fought for free, fair, transparent and credible elections and as such, we cannot and will not contradict our stance, nor betray our legacy.

Our dynamic Standard Bearer and supporters, we the members of the National Executive Committee of this great party are committed to all of you. Now is the time that we have to swallow the bitter pills by taking some hard decisions both in government and our party. We commit to continuously seeking the interest of Liberians. Most importantly, our supporters who stood with us during our difficult days in the struggle must continue to be empowered. We can no longer sugarcoat this reality. The moral demands to empower our people is a fierce urgency that remains our first line of defense as we serve our country.

The verdict from our people in the just-ended polls in Montserrado is not only a wakeup call to action, but an insistence the party will not ignore to change course.

Our officials in both the Legislature and the Executive will have to live in accordance with our Pro-Poor Agenda or, they will have to vacate the government and our beloved party. We have reached the point where we will separate party actions from the actions of some officials of government, where necessary; the period for honeymoon is over. The jobs we gave to you is to help our President succeed and, not to undermine our hard-earned gains.

Our President is a popular person with a good heart for all Liberians. We all have to help our leader deliver for the people of Liberia. This election doesn’t mean that our government is unpopular with the people of Liberia. What it means is that our partisans and the people of Liberia in general need us most at this critical juncture in our national political journey.

My fellow partisans, we are emerging stronger than ever in our political history, and with this increasing strength we shall never repeat a loss in our stronghold of Montserrado County again.

In conclusion, we hereby announce an extraordinary meeting of the entire party structure on this Saturday to build consensus with partisans and stakeholders as we work overtime to remain a united and stronger party towards 2020, when the mighty party looks to redeeming Montserrado’s lost seat. Let us remain united.

The CDC statement comes as Ms. Urey is mounting a strong challenge against the results being announced by the National Elections Commission.
Appearing on the Henry Costa Morning Show Thursday, the opposition candidate vowed to reject any results that does not represent the will of the people in District No. 15.
NEC has accepted and acted on a complaint filed by Ms. Urey concerning irregularities in the District #15 By-elections against NEC temporary employees at some polling stations which are under investigation. At one of those stations, sources confirmed to FrontPageAfrica, the candidate’s poll watchers were reportedly arrested and jailed from three of the centers on election day. Although they watchers have since been released, the absence from the counting of the ballots is already raising eyebrows from Ms. Urey and her supporters concerned that something sinister may be afoot.

Cllr. Jerome Korkoyah, head of the elections commission acknowledged at a news conference Wednesday that NEC is in receipt of complaints filed by Ms. Urey while appearing to rule out “any major incident”. Said Cllr. Korkorya: “The by-election was successfully implemented without any major incident. Polls opened mostly on time and the counting of votes started immediately on Tuesday, July 30, 2019, here in our tally center. We are pleased to note that to date, the commission has received five complaints. With regards to District 15, of the two complaints received, one involving Ms. Telia Urey of the ALP campaign team against NEC poll workers from precinct code 301 and 306, 305, 308 and 304, 307.”