–At 9th Sitting of the National Executive Committee
IPNEWS-Monrovia: The opposition United Peopleโs Party (UPP) on Friday, March 31, 2023 in conducting the affairs of the party to normal constitutional and legal compliance, and in line with the 6th National Party Congress mandates to the National Executive Committee, unanimously endorsed Partisan Dr. Da Monynson Tarr as its new Political Leader.
An UPP press release issued in Monrovia says, the Special 9th Sitting of the National Executive Committee brought together hundreds of Partisans from the 15 Political sub-divisions of Liberia to grace the occasion.
The event was hosted on Friday, March 31, 2023, at the National Headquarters of the United Peopleโs Party, oldest Congo town, Montserrado County.
In line with Chapter III Article 3.3 (a) of the UPP Constitution, the Special 9th Sitting of the National Executive Committee was presided over by the National Chairman, Susannah Lorpu Mator Seton and assisted by the National Secretary General, Aaron Jutomu Larteh.
Out of 22 Senior & Junior Elected National Executive Committee Members, 16 attended the occasion and signed the Resolution, and out of the 15 Counties, 11 County Chairpersons attended and signed the Resolution.
Regarding reliance, the National Executive Committee was mandated by the 6th National Party Congress to do the following:
- Find a way for members of the Party to contest the 2023 elections as candidates in an electoral concert or electoral alliance agreement with other friendly and complimentary Parties. It is expected that whatever arrangement made, the members of the National Election Committee will decide to maintain Political Harmony in the long term interest of the UPP.
- To find way for UPP to advocate for support in collaboration with other Progressive forces and finally paving the way for economic empowerment of the Liberian People.
- To review the Party Constitution with the intervention of recommending an amendment to the 7th National Party Congress.
UPPโs Background
The United People’s Party (UPP) was formed in the 1980s as a successor to the Progressive Alliance of Liberia (PAL) and the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), but was initially banned under military dictator, President Samuel Doe because of its alleged “socialist leanings”.
PAL and UPP leader Gabriel Baccus Matthews was the main opposition politician in Liberia under Doe, and after Doe’s death in 1990 he became Foreign Minister until 1993.
In the elections held on 19 July 1997, the UPP presidential candidate Gabriel Baccus Matthews won 2.51% of the vote. The party won 2 out of 64 seats in the House of Representatives and none in the Senate. While international observers deemed the polls administratively free and transparent, they noted that it had taken place in an atmosphere of intimidation because most voters believed that former rebel leader and National Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate Charles Taylor would return to war if defeated. Matthews retired as leader of the party in 1999.
In the 11 October 2005 elections, the United People’s Party and the Liberian People’s Party participated as part of the Alliance for Peace and Democracy (APD).
Both parties campaigned as part of the National Democratic Coalition in the 2011 presidential and legislative elections.
