BY: ARCHIE SEI BOB YINI

IPNews-Nimba County: A group of Nimba County women, predominantly supporters of the only female candidate in the December 8, 2020 special senatorial election in Nimba County, Madam Edith Gongloe-Weh of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP), Monday took to the streets of Ganta, protesting in demand of votes they claimed were stolen in favor of her main rival, Rep. Jeremiah Koung of the Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction (MDR).

The National Elections Commission had since announced the official results of the election and declared Rep. Koung as the winner.

According to the official results, Rep. Koung accumulated a total of 37, 899 votes representing 36.12% while Madam Weh secured a second place with 34,153 votes representing 32.55%.

But Madam Weh took an exception to the results when she filed a complaint with the NEC, citing irregularities.

In her complaint, she lamented that the entire electoral process was fraudulently carried out in the county.

The fifth hearing into Weh’s complaint was scheduled for Monday, December 28, 2020 when the women took to the streets in a peaceful match in solidarity with her.

Heavily guarded by police, the women marched through the principle streets of Ganta, holding placards with different inscriptions “we want our votes; women’s leadership matters; we want justice; PYJ stop suppressing us”, among others.

They believed Madam Weh was cheated and are calling on the National Elections Commission to rerun the process.

Madam Weh has contested in three successive senatorial elections and has come second in all.

She contested in the 2011, 2014 and 2020 senatorial elections respectively.

She also served as Superintendent of Nimba during former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf first term.

The Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) says its senatorial candidate, Madam Edith Gonloe-Weh was cheated out of her legitimate electoral victory and they are therefore calling on the National Election Commission (NEC) for rerun.

According to a press release issued on Monday, December 28, 2020, the CPP called for a rerun of elections at centers where evidence has shown that frauds occurred in Nimba county.

“Our poll-watchers and technical team on elections have uncovered that the Nimba County Senatorial Election was characterized by widespread fraud and irregularities which clearly undermined the credibility of the election and circumvented the will and pleasure of the people” says the release.

The release said there were deliberate inconsistencies in the numbers on the official record of count issued to CPP observers on the day of the election, compared to those published by NEC.

“The unauthorized and illegal substitution of sensitive election materials with the objective of perpetrating fraud; the deliberate exposure of votes to the end of perpetrating fraud constitute some inconsistencies we have evidence of” the release indicated.

The CPP further maintained that misfeasance and malfeasance on the part of NEC Officials; the chasing of its poll workers out of some polling places by local officials, thus depriving the candidate her right to obtaining authentic information of the conduct of the election in those places are issues that the CPP has gathered evidence.

According to the CPP press release, there are pieces of evidence that show fraud and irregularities that were orchestrated against Madam Edith Gongloe-Weh in favor of Representative Jeremiah Koung.

“As an alliance that is acclaimed for adherence to the rule of law, we are currently challenging the outcome of the Nimba County Senatorial Election for the foregoing reasons. From all the evidence in possession of our technical and legal teams, we are convinced that our candidate, Madam Edith Gongloe-Weh would have won the election by a convincing and irreversible margin if the fraud and irregularities which marked the process were never orchestrated and the bare minimum standards for credible elections were upheld” said the release.

The CPP further noted that “While our legal challenge of the election result is ongoing, the regime has allegedly embarked on a clearly fruitless effort to clean the trail of its mess by going to magisterial centers in the county to tamper with voting records.”

The release also stated that the CPP in no uncertain terms condemns acts of violence meted out against peaceful citizens who alarmed over the alleged, strange joint-operations of NEC and LNP personnel in the county and calls for the immediate and unconditional release of LP’s Secretary-General and all those arrested in the aftermath of the aforementioned events, or they would begin unspecified political actions to demand their release.