The Informer (Monrovia)
D Kaihenneh Sengbeh
13 November 2009
Candidates, observers and the National Election Commission (NEC)-and even voters-expected a huge turnout in Tuesday, November 10, 2009 much publicized Montserrado County senatorial by-election, but only fate knew what would unfold.
Following three weeks (Oct 14-Nov 8) of frenzied, flamboyant and cash-splashing political campaigns in the country's most-populated Montserrado County-the seat of the Liberian capital-all was set for over 473,000 voters to decide who occupies the vacant seat in the senate left by the passing of Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) junior senator Hannah Brent.
The 10 candidates-five independent, three of political parties and two from merger and alliance-and their die-hard supporters were sure of high turnouts at polling centers, judging from the fact that their campaign trials pulled mammoth crowds, but unfortunately, the expected voters were never to be found.
Certainly, had they known what plan bulk of the registered voters, including those in the campaign crowds, forming part of the electoral euphoria, had planned-not to vote-many of these candidates would have had a second thought-maybe, not to venture running or building high hopes.
November 10 came, but it did not look like the one expected-when tens of thousands of voters should be forming endless cues to cast ballots for their choice candidates.
Unlike the October 11, 2005 general and presidential elections-and its November 8 run-off between CDC George Weah and Unity Party Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (now President of Liberia)-when polling station were choked by 5 a.m., most of the polling places in Montserrado were practically empty on Tuesday morning. Only a faithful few voters, many of whom would later turn frustrated by delayed and irregularity-marred electoral process, turned up. Some of them would not wait for polling to begin beyond 10 a.m. least to say noon.
For instance, few voters in the populated Bardnersville Housing Estate got up as early as 5:00 a.m.; they proceeded to the E. Jonathan Goodridge High School polling center-where they should be casting their ballots-to queue up. "But when we came here soon this morning, the place was empty and quiet like a grave yard," one of them, Philip Johnson, 41, said.
He said they went that early to avoid the rush and the stand offs that characterized the 2005 elections.
"You know they say 'experience is the best teachers'; because of what I experienced in 2005, when this place was jam parked, I wanted to be here three hours before voting time so that I could be among the first people to vote and go home," he continued. "But the place was empty, and even more than three hours later, you have less that 50 person here to vote."
"It is too surprising to see this place empty like this," another elderly voter pointed out. "Just day before yesterday [Saturday, November 9, 2009] they were all here campaigning behind the candidates, where are all of them," she wondered.
"After getting all the T-shirts, causing all the noise, and making quarrels among themselves for their candidates, they have stayed home," Alphonso Nyumah, who voted in central Monrovia at AGM noted. "To me," the petty trader indicated, "this is complete ungratefulness to the candidates."
This was the situation-poor turnouts and irregularities-at most of the 937 polling stations across the 14 electoral districts in Montserrado County. Poll workers and observers waited for hours to see few voters appearing.
Polling places such as Grace Baptist School and the Sister Shirley Kolmer School campus in District Number 8 were no exception to the phenomena.
"We are here waiting for them to come and exercise their franchise, but they are not showing up. They are coming one-by-one and in longer time intervals," an anonymous poll worker told this writer at the 'hungry-for-voters' Grace Baptist polling station.
A candidate's view
"The people are frustrated, they are tired of lies from politicians," Diarus Dillon, the youngest of the candidates, running the ticket of the opposition Liberty Party, said on Truth FM Bread Fast Show Wednesday morning.
Preliminary results suggests that Dillon is among the least, and may not get close to looming runoff between either CDC's Geraldine Doe Sheriff and UP's Clemenceau Urey or APD's Wilson Tarpeh.
Dillon could not even secure convincing votes in the Bardnersville community that he lives-where the ruling party's Urey leads on the average.
"During elections our politicians who want public offices make fabulous promises to the people, but when they get there, they turn their backs and fail to deliver these promises, so the people are hopeless and disappointed," Dillon justified the low turnouts in Tuesday's polling.
Though, seemingly defeated, but still hopeful, Dillon said "it is the will of the people" if he is not elected. "Life must go on if I don't win, but my participation is a wakeup call to the young people. Those who hold the traditionally-held belief that young people cannot go up there".
Dillon is not alone in his opinion that the people are "frustrated and hopeless".
Many persons this writer spoke with highlighted seminar view. "We cannot continue to make others rich at our detriment," Amos Tablor, who claimed he voted for the UP in 2005, but this time for the CDC, said. They preach to us a culture of lie and make promises on false premises...I mean promises that they can't deliver. There's no need of me wasting my precious time of voting again."
A business woman, Jacqueline Phocole says she rather use the spare time (voting period) to rest. "If they need my vote to win any election, they will all loose; I don't have confidence in any of them," she remarked.
Momoh Johnson, 36, a father of two, said "They think we are stupid? They want to ride on our votes to go to power and forget about us. No way! Not my vote," scrap dealer stated, when he saw people voting Tuesday on Ashmum Street, in Central Monrovia. "They ain't get work to do that's why they are hurting their heads for other people's prosperity," he added.
For Meme Johns, a freshman student at the University of Liberia, there was no one among the 10 candidates that moved her to vote. "They can not offer me any thing, so I can't give them power. Those who are there now lied to us; all of those who want to get voted into office now will join the same society," Meme said.
Before the by-election, many persons had expressed the" dishonesties" of many of the current elected officials in government-the legislature in particular and the UP-led government in general. They said the Legislature was a place of money-making.
According to critics, lawmakers were getting well-off from many shanty deals including solicitation of bribes to enact laws and concession agreements, besides making mouth-watering salaries and allowances while the masses-68 per cent of the 3.4 million Liberians-live below the poverty line.
A die-hard UP partisan, Thelma Nyanquoi last month threatened that she would not vote in the by election. Her reason: "The people we vote in position feel that we are nothing to them. We vote for them to seek our interest, but when they get into power, they cast us aside." Thelma noted.
Thelma feels that the government of the UP should have done more for Bardnersville by now-where she lives. "They insulted our people in this Bardnersville Estate, because of UP...our mothers were on their feet to make sure that UP was elected, and UP has been elected, now see our roads."
"The road is terrible, it is ridiculous. When you see the road you see that you are around some gold mines," referring to the deep pits on the road. "It looks like a well. It does not look a road for cars to be on. It looks very bad," Thelma described the scene.
She said elected officials of the area who promised to work to improve the place in 2005 have so far failed to do so three-and-a-half year later. "I will not cast [my vote] for anyone. I know what I want, so I will keep my vote."
Path to 2011
Many, including NEC, have described the Montserrado by-election as a litmus test for the 2011 general and presidential election. The reason is that Montserrado plays host to nearly half of the country's population. It has the highest number of seats (14) in the current legislature, and that number will more than double in the 53rd legislature after the 2011 polls.
Therefore, many believe that the outcome of the by-election will determine the weight of political parties in 2011, and will also determine the capability of NEC to conduct "an all Liberian affair election".
Dillon, judging from the low turnout and high irregularities of Tuesday's by-election, thinks that 2011 will be tougher and the turnouts may be the country's worst. "This is just the prelude...but 2011 will be worse," he said in the radio-phone conversation.
However, Pitman Coleman, a Sociologist major at the State University of Liberia thinks otherwise: "There's something we call Social Change in Sociology. Tides and time change, so 2011 will be very critical. People will come out in their numbers to vote because it involves the presidency."
"People may refuse to vote for a senator, but the president? Only few would not. So we can't determine the 2011 turnout by this by-election."
Though there are voters that never were in the Tuesday's polling for reasons best known to them, they will come out-who knows, in the possible runoff in I see-in 2011.
Meanwhile the poor turnout continue to be a debate, but the candidates are now getting results from the few who turnout to cast ballots. On Wednesday evening, NEC announced that UP's Urey was slightly ahead of CDC's Doe-Sheriff, followed by APD's Tarpeh.
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