The Irony of the 2017 Elections in Liberia

As I tune in from one radio station to another every morning, I hear members of political parties declaring their parties winners of the pending elections. Sometimes I wonder whether they say those words for saying sake or they really mean the those words.

These things have happened in previous elections in Liberia. A certain party has over and again argued that they won the past two elections but was cheated. But the question is who is supposed to announce the winner of a general election in Liberia. Is it not the National Elections Commission (NEC)? Of course it is NEC. The next question is, is there not a criterion set up by law/the constitution for the winning of a presidential election in Liberia.

It is not really bad for one to be hopeful or optimistic. Equally so, one needs to realize that there are always disappointment along one's way to achieving one's goals. On the contrary, Liberian politicians determine the outcome of a pending election on the basis of the number of people that attended their campaign rallies. I think it should not be this way. There is a clear provision in our Constitution for the elections of Public officers. Article 83b of the 1986 Constitution clearly says this, " All elections of public officers shall be determined by an absolute majority of the votes cast. If no candidate obtains an absolute majority in the first ballot, a second ballot shall be conducted on the second Tuesday following. The two candidates who received the greatest numbers of votes on the first ballot shall be designated to participate in the run-off election".

That is the point that many Liberian politicians do not take into account. They try to take advantage of the uninformed electorates. As a result, they put out argument that can not be substantiated by any statute. But the lawyers will better explain this potion of our constitution.

In this year's elections, I foresee many people playing a blame game. There are already three outstanding political parties, the ruling Unity Party (UP), the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), and Liberty Party (LP). Others that may come closer to the ones listed above include the Alternative National Congress (ANC), the All Liberian Party (ALP) and the Movement for Democracy and Reconciliation (MDR). The irony at once is that the three previously listed parties are seriously declaring themselves winners already, but there will be only one winner.

For CDC, they say that this is their time to lead, because they have been cheated in the past elections. Some of their supporters even argue that their candidate, George Manneh Weah, for FIFA world Best player of the year (1995), is more popular and has good moral standing with the Liberian people than any candidate in the race. They further argue that nothing can stop them from winning this election.

For their part, the members of the Liberty Party headed by corporate lawyer, and former President Pro Tempore of the Liberia Senate say "For the past two successive elections our party has never had the number of people it has now, so there is a clear indication that we will emerge winner of the October 2017 polls".

The ruling Unity Party, headed by Liberia's current Vice President and former Liberia Produce Marketing Company (LPMC) Director, Ambassador Joseph Nyumah Boakai, for their part say that they have made tremendous progress since their twelve years of governance. For this reason, they have no doubt that the Liberian people will allow them to continue on the path that they are.

Many local politicians with whom I have interacted say that "the elections will be won by an unexpected candidate". The question is, who is this one candidate that will be Liberia's next president?