Ahead Of 2023 General And Presidential Elections In Liberia, Cllr. Gongloe Lectures SEMPID On A Successful Election
One of the presidential candidates of the upcoming general and presidential elections, Cllr. Tiawan Gongloe has outlined what must be done for successful elections that will be free and Fair. Addressing members of SEMPID in central Monrovia recently, Cllr. Gongloe said the Simmering Fragility of the 2023 General and Presidential Election,
See below full text of Cllr. Gongloe’s speech at SEMPID:
Is there any possibility for an opposition Political Party win?
Integrity of the Election
The only way to prevent a fragility of the electoral process is to conduct the 2023 General and Presidential election in a manner that is viewed by the candidates and voters to be free, fair and transparent. In other words the integrity of the electoral process must be beyond any doubt. The following should be done in order to promote the integrity of the 2023 General and Presidential Election:
- Credible registration process that covers all the potential voters.
- Biometric registration process
- Avoid printing high number excess ballots
- MOJ should give the number voters who are convicts so that they do not vote
- The Ministry of Health should give the names of dead persons to the Elections Commission and their counties of origin so that their names are delete to avoid ghost voting.
- There should be no bulk announcement of election result as was rectify done in Lofa County; election results should be announced as the ballots are counted.
- There should be counter-part election commission supported by the International Community given that all the election commissioner are from the CDC or closely allied with it.
- There should be an independent tribunal to decide election cases as most election cases are usually against officers of the NEC.
- The international community should support the assignment of stationary independent observers at each polling station for the entire day of election
- The Current Chairman of the Election Commission should be removed for integrity issue identified by the LACC.
- Prevent pre-election violence by prohibiting the formation of private militia as was recently witnessed in the recent Lofa County election.
- The data center should be controlled by the international Community and be accessible to all parties. In 2011 for example, Candidate George Weah was given access to the NEC Data Center. Minimally, we appeal to the international community to provide technical assistants to man the data center as counterparts.
- All political parties must be given access to all processes from voters’ education, registration up to the counting and tabulation of votes.
- New Election Law on registration fee is meant to exclude potential winners of the 2023 legislative and presidential elections; therefore we are calling on the Legislature not to pass it.
- The Possibility of an Opposition Party win
The question is “Is it possible for the 2023 presidential election to be won by the an opposition party? The answer is Yes!! and I will win by not less than 65%.
The 2023 presidential election will be won by an opposition party, because of the following reasons:
- There is no way for the CDC to win because the people of Liberia will be voting on the performance record of the CDC and the record is very bad. The 2023 election will not be like 2017 election, when CDC was the voted for based on mere expectation and wishful- thinking. The election results of subsequent elections are clear symptoms of declining confidence in the CDC. CDC will not win even ten percent of the votes in 2023 because by that time there will be more stealing of public funds by more public officials because they know that the CDC will not win. This will lead to more hunger, more deaths, more children out of school, and more suffering in different forms thereby creating mass anger and the urgent desire for relief from hardship by an alternative political party and leader.
- The CDC government will be trying to do some political projects in order to win election and therefore, there will be delay in salary payments, denial of pension payments, lack of essential medicines in government hospitals, clinics, etc.
- Prices of essential commodities, such as fuel and food will increase, thereby increasing poverty.
- Liberians living in Liberia will be begging relatives and friends living abroad for money for their survival and this will cause Liberians living abroad to campaign for an alternative to the current party in power.
- Officials of the ruling party will antagonize and mistreat the people of Liberia who not members of the ruling party in many ways with impunity.
- The display of arrogance and abuse of power in different shapes, forms and manner will create more anger against the CDC and its presidential candidate.
The opposition party that conducts itself as a clear alternative to CDC will win if does the following:
- Speak fearlessly and truthfully about the pain and suffering of the Liberian people;
- Provide a clear prescription for combatting lawlessness, corruption, poverty, poor educational system, poor healthcare system, poor infrastructure, poor environmental protection, poor sanitation, poor local governance, poor economic policy, poor energy system and clear path to sustained peace, progress and prosperity for a better Liberia.
- An opposition party that demonstrates a commitment to transparent governance will win.
- An opposition party that presents a presidential candidate that is knowledgeable about the history of Liberia, governance challenges, has demonstrated integrity in public service, and has remained consistent and persistent in speaking truth to power. Without a doubt the winning opposition party that will win in 2023 will be the Liberian Peoples Party and I will be the presidential candidate that will win based on my track record of fearlessly speaking truth to power and my record of integrity in public service. Government is a place to serve and not to steal. Yes, public office is not for public stealing but public service. We call on the Liberian people to say goodbye to stealing, ignorance, incompetence and arrogance by voting the CDC out of power in 2023.
A Better Liberia is Possible beginning January 2024
I thank you!!
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