The political leader of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP), Alexander Cummings, was notably absent from a crucial electoral forum organized by the National Elections Commission (NEC).
Cummings’ absence from the Wednesday, August 2, 2023 well-attended forum came after he had, prior to the meeting publicly expressed his lack of confidence in the electoral body’s leadership.
However, while the meeting, which had President Goerge Weah and other prominent opposition leaders in attendance, was ongoing, Cummings was sharing photos of himself on social media, walking while urging Liberians to exercise regularly.
He said during his walk, “Let us walk together into a new and healthy future. Fixing Liberia is also about keeping Liberians healthy. Regular exercise, especially walking, helps to keep us healthy, physically ready, and mentally strong.”
“Even though the economic conditions are stressful, walking regularly helps reduce stress, enables blood circulation, strengthens leg muscles, and has positive effects on the heart and bone health, especially as we age,” he added.
Cummings, who did not also miss the meeting alone, as his Collaborating Political Parties did not send any high profile figure including his Vice running mate, then threw out a challenge, calling on Liberians to join him every Wednesday for at least 30-40 minutes, saying: “If you can do it daily, that is even better.”
Meanwhile, Notable politicians who attended were Senator Jeremiah Koung and Tiawan Gongloe of the Liberian People’s Party, among several others.
Koung, who is a running mate of former Vice President Joseph Boakai of the Unity Party, noted that his party’s most important request is for the Commission to count the October 10 polls votes by electoral districts.
“We have few concerns and we communicated that to the NEC,” the Nimba County Senator said. “Our concern is the announcement of results and, for the purpose of transparency, the results of the presidential elections be given by electoral districts.”
Gongloe, a former Solicitor General from the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf administration, noted that his party was cautioning the President and his government to make available money for the conduct of elections on October 10 polls, saying it is “more expensive to fight war than to spend on elections.”
The meeting with the electoral body was also called for by the ECOWAS and UN missions, and is part of an “ongoing dialogue” initiated by the NEC to promote inclusive, credible, peaceful, and non-violent elections, as enshrined in the Farmington River Declaration recently signed by registered political parties and independent aspirants.
Davidetta Browne Lansanah, chairperson of the electoral body, noted that despite the conduct of the biometric voter registration process, the election will be manually conducted, just as it was done in the past.
“While the commission has transitioned to biometric voter registration, the voting in the October 10 elections will be done manually as it has been in the past,” Lansanah noted. “While we strive to adapt to global phenomena, technological advancement, the process will be done incrementally,” she added.
Lansanah however promised that October elections will be free, fair and credible and challenged politicians to work along with the electoral body to reduce the pre-elections tension.
Meanwhile, Lansanah has informed the public 27,000 duplicate records discovered during the voter registration process were created by 3,636 people who double-registered.
“Let me clarify at this point the 27,000 duplicate records were created of 3,634 persons who registered more than once meaning that number is multiple registrants because in the media there is some confusion,” she said.
