Opposition Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) presidential candidate Sen. George Oppong Weah says he’ll not accept anything but to be declared winner of the presidential elections, making claims that he is destined for victory in these elections.
The former soccer icon – turned politician, Weah is among 20 presidential candidates contesting these elections. After casting his ballot on Tuesday morning, 10 October at the Kendja Public School, Weah told a local radio station Prime FM that he’s of the strong conviction that victory is certain for the CDC in the 2017 presidential election and there’s nothing that will stop him.
When quizzed if he’ll accept the result if he is defeated, Weah insists that there’s no way he’ll lost the elections with huge and aggressive campaign carried out by the CDC. He says it is impossible for him to lost, citing deployment of poll workers that he says were trained for two months.
When furthered quizzed as to whether he’ll quit politics after the elections, Weah pointed out that he will continue his quest for change for the Liberian people.
At the Rehab Community voter center, ruling Unity Party (UP) presidential candidate Vice President Joseph Nyuma Boakai expressed high anticipation that he will win the election in the first round of the polls.
Boakai says nothing can stop him from achieving victory. When quizzed if he would accept the outcome of the elections, Boakai said he would accept any result for the country, though he expresses confidence of winning the election.
Boakai re-emphasizes that if given the opportunity to lead the country, he will place serious attention on road connectivity throughout the country, saying “Road, road and road, I think road connectivity will allow our farmers to troop their products to urban area.”
Liberians from all across the country on Tuesday morning 10 October, stormed respective voting precincts to vote the candidates of their choice.
Though some of the polling places did not open at 8:00am as indicated by that the National Elections Commission (NEC), some Liberians especially within Monrovia and its environs woke up in the early hours of Tuesday to cast their ballots.
Voters were relatively patient to wait in long queue, while some returned home with thought of coming later during the day to vote.
Of the problems faced by voters were the issues of code number not being assigned to where they were registered, but supervisors in charge of precinct centers created journals to allow them to vote.
Security presence was felt in many of the polling centers and a lot of young people were seen in queue to vote. Few people with disabilities joined the process also at places visited by this writer.
The 1986 Liberian Constitution Article 83 (a) states that voting for the President, Vice-President, members of the Senate and members of the House of Representatives shall be conducted throughout the Republic on the second Tuesday in October of each election year.
Data released by the NEC for these elections for voters stands at 2,183,629. According to NEC’s data, there are 2080 voting precincts and 5,390 polling places throughout the country with 26 political parties contesting in these elections.
It says 20 presidential candidates, and 1,008 representative candidates are contesting the elections. There are 73 seats being contested by the 1,08 representative candidates.