As all is set for the run-off election on November 14, President George M. Weah, in a patriotic tone, has told Liberians to go to the polling centers on election day to make decisions with their votes, writes Ojuku Silver-tongue Kangar, Jr.
President Weah, who began touring Montserrado County’s district #4 at Du-Port Road Market and continued to the Forestry Development Authority (FDA), Mount Barclay, and PH Street, thanked the electorate for voting for them during the first-round of the legislative and presidential elections.
At Du-Port Road market, he told the constituents that his community tour of the district is to encourage those who did not turn out during the first round of the election to vote.
“The reason I am here: in few days we will be going back to election,” President Weah said. “What we are hearing is that lots of Liberians did not vote; we are here to tell you that your decision to vote is important.”
The President and his entourage visited Du-Port Road Waterside, Shara Community, and he interacted with the citizens.
Walking from Shara community’s intersection to the football field, he chatted with the citizens and encouraged them to vote on November 14, 2023.
“When you vote, you put your leader into power to work for you,” the President said. “We anticipated first-round victory from all our partisans and well-wishers; we could not get the first-round victory, but we led the first round.”
The President’s run-off election campaign rallies is in concordance with the National Elections Commission mandate. It declared run-off election campaign opened on October 24, 2023, ending on November 12, 2023.
The October 10 general elections put President Weah and the Unity Party’s Standard Bearer, Joseph N. Boakai, neck to neck.
According to the National Elections Commission’s head, Davidetta Brown-Lassanah, President Weah received 43.83%, while Boakai, 43.44%.
President Weah walking from community to community in campaign rallies is for Liberians to exercise their Constitutional right without fear.
“If you don’t vote, you don’t have a voice,” he said. “I should have been home. I am the President. I am not too big. I walked through the community to encourage people who did not vote.”
Twenty presidential candidates participated in the first-round of the election, but eighteen were dropped, leaving two for the run-off.
The first round of the election recorded the highest amount of invalid votes, a situation that has caused several voters to blame the National Elections Commission (NEC) for poor civic voter education prior to the election.