3 November 2009
Partisans of two outstanding political parties in Liberia, the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) and the ruling Unity Party (UP) in a bid to undo each other at the pending November 10 polls were embroiled in a clash at the vicinity of the Free Port of Monrovia on the Bushrod Island.
No one was hurt though during the clash, eyewitness told this paper that it lasted for some time and it took the vigilance and courage of other reasonable partisans to bring to situation under control. Such political phenomenon is strange to Liberia's political terrain and according to observers such is one of the most frequent occurrences in electioneering.
According to information received by this paper, the CDC partisans who were in the field campaign for the candidate, Geraldine Doe-Sheriff were headed by Montserrado County Electoral District #10 Representative Regina Sokan Teah, but there is no information on who was leading the other group of partisans from the UP.
However, Robert Nyemah who claimed to have been on the scene told this paper that the situation erupted when some UP partisans who were allegedly inspecting voting cards and at the same time taking down series number and names of the voters with voting cards were bumped into by partisans headed by Representative Teah.
It is reported that while the UP partisans were in the process of doing that, their CDC colleagues stormed the scene and ordered everyone to disengage but that the Up partisans remained adamant and paid no heels. Thus, the eyewitness said loyal members of the CDC group were instructed to stop the UP partisans from doing that as it was not in the interest of the electoral process but the UP partisans apparently feeling offended took a tough stance. Thereby, the situation exploded into serous uneasiness in the area.
The eyewitness quoted Rep. Teah as claiming that the Unity Party was purchasing voter cards in order to deny them voting opportunity November 10, 2009. He said, as the situation worsened and tension soared, the police were called in to rescue the situation, and some hard-headed partisans of both parties were taken to the police station.
But a Unity Party partisan Gabriel Nyeken who was contacted rubbished the claims that his party was engaged in purchasing cards from voters saying that it made no sense for the party to buy voters' cards when it will expect people voting card to vote their candidate.
He said: "what we are is to know who have voting cards and include them on the team called "foot soldier for Urey. Before one becomes member, the Party should see their registered card." For her part, But Rep. Teah refused to believe that the party was not involved in purchasing voter cards, alleging that the UP was buying card for L$100, and described it as limitation of CDC partisans.
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