Senior Associate Professor of the University of Liberia (UL) MASS Communication Department and former independent candidate in the Montserrado County By-election, Alhaji G. V. Kromah has averred that he lost the election in the first round but won the battle.

Reading a press statement to a team of journalists at his residence on Friday, November 20, 2009, Prof Kromah said, he was the only candidate who clearly identified the present frustration of the electorates with electing individual d as a defeat for my campaign.

If we were to have every candidate in the race running as an independent without several political parties support, the statistics would certainly look different. I lost the battle, but won the war," Prof. Kromah declared.

"For I was the only one who clearly identified the present frustration of the electorates with electing individuals whom they accused of not relating to them. We tired encouraging them but as we all could see on the day of the election, they were not sufficiently convinced," he continued.

In a related development, Prof. Kromah has declared his support for the Unity Party candidate Clemenceau B Urey in the runoff election and has promised to identify with the Urey campaign team. Mr. Kromah who is also a professor of International Relations at the IBB International school of study said he, in consultation with his campaign team took the decision after series of discussions with UP executives and members of its campaign team.

He disclosed that during the meeting with the UP campaign team, they agreed to implement key elements of his platform as a bargain chip for his support, noting that since the first round, his campaign team had been open for discussion but only the Unity Party approached him.

He named Dr. Charles Clerk, Mr. Eugene Shannon and Senator John Ballout of Maryland as some of the party's executives who met him for his support. Quizzed as to whether he was under pressure or any form of coercion from his critics for the declaration of support to the UP, the renowned professor responded in relaxed tone and said that he was never pressured, neither was he coerced in any form.

He concluded with this parable "We all are riding a vehicle that is heading for a particular destination and as such, if the driver is not driving, we the passengers consciously, we have a responsibility to properly guide the driver because if anything goes wrong, we all will feel it."