IPNEWS-Monrovia: In reaction to the recent by-elections conducted by the National Elections Commission (NEC) that the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) missing out on winning any of the four seats that were for grasp, Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor has attributed deception as the main factor responsible for defeats in successive elections in Bong County.
According to VP Taylor, some unnamed stewards have not been supporting the choice of the ruling establishment, although she opted to hide the names of them. She admitted these differences are responsible for the continuous political slaps dating 2018 to present.
She feels if the party must progress in the county, it’s time that they must reunite ahead of 2023 General Elections. Since 2018, the Coalition for Democratic Change has not won any political seat in Bong.
Three elections have been conducted in Bong – two by-elections and a senatorial election; something that opposition political parties have won. There’s only a CDC lawmaker within the Bong’s caucus.
The recent By-election, according to political analyst, has publicly exposed the weaknesses in the CDC to the public; thereby calling for unity.
The recent By-elections across four counties deeply witnessed unexpected results against the ruling establishment despite bankrolling their choices, thus leading VP Taylor to let the cat out of the bag.
“One major thing observed is that, some of the members of CDC were supporting others, instead of the CDC candidate. This in my mind, was a complete understanding situation. We can’t put up a candidate, then you support another person over our candidate. This shows a lack of commitment and trust in the party,” VP Taylor angrily following the NEC pronouncement of the results.
The National Elections Commission through its Chairperson, Madam Davidetta Browne Lassanah had pronounced Mr. James M. Kolleh, PUP as the representative elect of District #2 in Bong County with 4,283 (33.28%) votes ahead CDC’s Melvin Salvage 3,882 (30.17%) votes and Independent Candidate, Edward Emmanuel Gboe with 2,497 (19.4%) votes across its 22 precincts and 70 polling places in the district.
According to Vice President Taylor, during the by-election, only a few people supported the CDC candidate while the rest chose to publicly support other candidates in the process.
“I need to say the truth like I always do. The process that we were in showed that we were not united. Whenever a house is divided against itself, it will not stand; that is the basic problem we have as a party. There were members in all of the parties – that is, the CDC, NPP and LPDP that supported different candidates. We didn’t come together in one accord,” VP Taylor openly started days after the by-election in the county.
“If we put our house in order and are prepared to work with each other, I believe many more positive things will happen ahead of 2023. I think that is the main problem that we have” she suggested.
