A few weeks to the National Elections Commission (NEC) declaring campaign open for the December 8, 2020 mid-term senatorial election, the nation has begun to record electoral violence in a number of counties, coupled with the allegation of cross-county voter trucking.
The recent violence was recorded in Grand Cape Mount County, where it was alleged that some senatorial aspirants were trucking people from neighboring Sierra Leone to take part in the on-going NEC voter roll update.
Pictorial evidence also show buses and trucks carrying a huge number of persons from Monrovia to Bomi County, allegedly by aspirants J. Alex Tyler and Representative Edwin Melvin Snowe.
Observers say this is not a good sign for the upcoming election, and that the NEC needs to stand up to take stringent measures in ensuring that the electoral laws are observed.
They said what is more troubling about the situation is that the citizens of Grand Cape Mount County have begun to take matters into their own hands by erecting checkpoints at a number of localities, which could be emulated in other counties.
According to information accessed by the Hot Pepper, the residents of Grand Cape Mount County are said to be creating the checkpoints to prevent non-Liberians transported from Sierra Leone from entering their county and from participating in the voter registration.
However, there has been stiff resistance from those who were trucked into Grand Cape Mount County, leaving a number of persons badly wounded and hospitalized.
The situation, according to a local journalist, is getting out of hand in the county, as citizens fear that it may escalate into a deeper crisis.
In a related development, members of the four Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) have accused the CDC candidate of Grand Cape Mount County, Victor Watson, of unleashing thugs to harm the CPP Campaign Chairman of the county, Montserrado County’s district #17 Representative, Hanson Kiazolu, when he was returning from the county. Representative Kiazolu had gone to Cape Mount to witness the endorsement program of CPP’s Grand Cape Mount aspirant, Simeon Taylor, on Sunday, September 13, 2020.
The youth wing of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) of district #17 has denounced and condemned in the strongest term the gruesome and barbaric attacks on the CPP Campaign Chair for Grand Cape Mount County, Chair for the Unity Party Legislative Caucus and Representative of district #17, Hanson S. Kiazolu, by supporters believed to be from the CDC.
They alleged that the convoy of Representative Kiazolu was targeted by CDCians at Robertsport’s intersection, Gbah Town and Vincent Town. According to them, the CDCians were armed with machetes and sticks with nails and gas, threatening to kill and burn the Unity Party Caucus Chair.
Additionally, the Senator of Montserrado County, Abraham Darius Dillon, has also accused members of the ruling establishment of violently disrupting his gathering on Thursday, September 10, 2020 in district #16, Montserrado County.
Senator Dillon has however threatened that, if CDCians ever disrupt his political gatherings again, he too will instruct members of his camp to disrupt the CDC candidate’s programs.
On the other hand, members of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change are accusing Senator Dillon of inciting violence with his rhetorical statements. They claimed that CDC has no part to play in what is unfolding, and that apparently some residents are expressing their dissatisfaction with Senator Dillon’s candidacy.
Observers following the trend of event believe that there is a creeping danger hanging over the December 8, 2020 election and, if the National Elections Commission (NEC) does not carefully intervene and put a halt to the problem, the election may possibly be postponed due to electoral violence.
