Filed in by Olando Testimony Zeongar – 0776819983/0880-361116/life2short4some@yahoo.com
Monrovia – Ahead of the National Elections Commission (NEC) announcement of the final result of Monday, 29 July Montserrado County senatorial by-election, one of seven candidates in the election, Dr. Kimmie Weeks, has congratulated Darius Dillon, the candidate for the four collaborating political parties, as the winner of the senatorial race.
Tallying of votes for the Monday election are ongoing at the NEC, with the electoral body promising that it will within 48 hours’ from election day release the final results of both the Montserrado senatorial and District #15 by-elections.
“Let me extend my congratulations to my brother Abe Darius Dillon for his victory,” Dr Weeks wrote on his official Facebook page Tuesday.
Weeks reiterated that a victory for any one candidate in the senatorial by-election is a victory for all seven of the candidates who vied for the lone Senate seat made vacant by the death of former Montserrado Senator Geraldine Doe Sheriff.
He thanked his supporters, including members of his family, his friends, campaign team members, and volunteers for their time, energy and sacrifice put into the senatorial race, stating, “This was truly the birth of a political movement that is now here to stay.”
“I again congratulate my brother Abe Darius Dillon for his massive victory. It was an honor to be in a race with opponents who shared mutual respect for each other. Congratulations,” Dr. Weeks further wrote.
In the absence of final results of the two by-elections being officially announced by NEC, all sides have been claiming early lead and in some instances declaring their respective candidates victorious in the Montserrado County senatorial and District #15 Representative by-elections.
On Tuesday, both chairpersons of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change and the opposition Liberty Party, Messrs. Mulbah Morlu and Steve Zargo, separately claimed their party’s candidates were in commanding and irreversible lead respectively.
While Morlu accused the opposition parties of celebrating a victory that they have not won, Zargo alerted the international community of what he called “attempt by the ruling party to thwart results”that he claimed were in the favor of the opposition parties’ candidates.
Morlu said at a post election press conference Tuesaday that reports in the possession of the CDC suggest that its candidates, Paulita C. C. Wie and Abu B. Kamara, are leading their main contenders, Darius Dillon and Telia Urey, in the senatorial and District #15 by-elections.
“Reports in our possession show an authoritative lead in the two by-elections and we will not follow the opposition’s quest to claim the victory or to undermine the truism of tally sheets signed by poll workers and records of the National Elections Commission,” Morlu said.
He claims the CDC has tallied about 90 percent of the votes cast in the senatorial by-election, with a margin in the party’s favor, adding that the ruling party can also boast of having overwhelming won the District #15 by-election, after tallying 100 percent of the votes cast.
“While we recognize that the senatorial election shows a margin in our favor, as we have tallied 90% of the votes cast, we can also boastfully say that District 15 is overpoweringly won by our candidate, Abu Bana Kamara, after tallying 100% of the votes cast,” Morlu said.
“We want all of our supporters to remain calm and democratic, but demonstrate a high spirit of patriotism during this period of opposition’s quest to claim a victory that they don’t have,” said Morlu, who accused the collaborating opposition political parties (LP, UP, ALP and ANC) and their candidates of already celebrating “a victory they don’t have.”
However, Morlu, who also told partisans and supporters of his party to remain calm and look forward to what he referred to as the CDC’s victory that will be announced very shortly, stressed, “as a democratic institution, the CDC will respect, as always, any credible results coming from the National Elections Commission.”
Liberty Party Chairman and Lofa County Senator Steve Zargo similarly told a news conference on Tuesday that results in the possession of the party show that the collaborating parties’ senatorial candidate Darius Dillon had a margin of 20,000 difference between him and the ruling party’s candidate, Paulita Wie.
He also disclosed that results in the four collaborating political parties’ possession put their candidate Telia Urey in the lead against his main contender, Abu Kamara of the governing CDC in the District #15 by-election.
“Our technical team is currently monitoring and tally sheets available to the collaborating political parties show that the two candidates on the ticket of the collaborating parties are in an irreversible lead,” Zargo said.
“We thank the people of Montserrado County for turning out to make history by defeating CDC in what is believed to be their back yard. We will jealously protect our ballot,” he stated further.
