Liberia: Representative Aspirant Raises Alarm Over the Housing of Polling Places At the Private Properties Arch-Rival

Monrovia — A Representative aspirant of electoral district # 14 Montserrado County has called on authorities of the National Elections Commission (NEC) to renege on maintaining the two voting precincts at the private properties of the sitting lawmaker Abraham Vamuyan Corneh, who is seeking re-election in the pending 2023 general and presidential elections.

According to aspirant Emmanuel K. Barnes of the Liberty Party (LP), the voting Precinct named Vai Town Block Factory with code 30337, which has about seven polling places, remain stationed at the Vamuco Shopping Center, located in Vai Town, outside Monrovia and belongs to Representative Corneh.

He made these assertions in a letter of complaint dated September 13, 2022 and addressed to the Chairperson of the National Elections Commission (NEC) Madam Davidetta Browne-Lansanah and

"I bring you greetings from the peace-loving people of District #14, Montserrado County. I write to bring to your attention something that will prevent violations of the electoral laws of Liberia. Since 2011, there has been a voting Precinct (Vai Town Block Factory) with code 30337 in the private property of the sitting lawmaker of the district. This precinct has seven (7) polling places and three thousand two hundred and thirty-eight (3238) registered voters as per the details from the 2020 Special Senatorial Elections."

"There is also another Precinct (Savaco Community School) with code 30139 that has always been hosted in the private auditorium at the front of his residence. This Precinct has eight (8) polling places with three thousand six hundred and eleven (3611) registered voters as per the 2020 updates", the letter, a copy which is in the possession of FrontPage Africa stated.

Not free to campaign

He maintained that these two precincts which account for 6,849 registered voters may not be accessible for other candidates to freely access or campaign there when they are cleared by the commission to contest because, it belongs to the incumbent lawmaker.

Barnes recalled that in 2017 when he was a candidate for the legislative seat of the district, he was barred from campaigning in the market environment which is Representative Corneh's personal property.

"It is a known electoral violation to deny people access to certain localities during the period of campaign."

As new voter registration is about to begin on December 15, 2022 for the 2023 elections, and based on evidences gathered from the past elections, Barnes called on the commission to relocate the Vai Town Block Factory from the Vamuco Market to the Gibraltar Public School in the Gibraltar Community in Clara Town.

He maintained that the Savaco Community School Precinct located at the residence of Representative Corneh should also be relocated to the Jerusalem School System behind the GT Bank in Clara Town.

Conduit for voters' trucking

Barnes alleged that the two precincts were allegedly used to register "trucked voters" in favor of Representative Corneh in 2017.

According to him, similar act will be repeated if the NEC fails to act ahead of the voter registration process.

"Both the Vai Town Block Factory and Savaco Community School has been used as a conduit for voters trucking by the lawmaker. It will interest you to note that the Vai Town Block Factory has no official residential area, yet you still maintain a precinct with seven polling places at that location. There is already the existence of two precincts at Iman Adullah Tunis School in the same Vai Town with codes 30338 and 30339. This is a five minute walk from the Savaco Community School Precinct and a 10 minute walk from the Vai Town Precinct."

He added that transferring these two precincts to Gibraltar Public School and Jerusalem School System respectively, will save residents of the district from "the danger of crossing roads and long-distance walk for our elders."

He noted that in the interest of fair play by creating a level playing field for all in keeping with best international practice, the NEC should promptly act.

In a race of seven persons, Barnes contested the 2017 general and presidential elections in district # 14 on the ticket of the opposition Liberty Party (LP and came fourth place. He accumulated 814 votes or 2.81% of the total number of 28, 943 valid votes cast over his victor Representative Abraham Vamuyan Corneh, who obtained 15,720 votes or 54.31%.

Representative Corneh won all of the polling centers at the two voting precincts being contended by his political opponent, Barnes in 2017.

Using Shopping Center for campaign?

The Vamuco Shopping Center has been used as a major campaign ground for its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Representative Corneh.

Thousands of local and foreign entrepreneurs are trading different kinds of goods and services at the complex.

Representative Corneh has over the years used the facility as a conduit to lure and encourage these business owners to canvass and vote for him or candidates of his choice during electioneering period, including the two past by and special senatorial elections in Montserrado County.

He at times lower or waive rental fees to encourage marketers of voting ages to register at the facility.

"When election is around the corner, you will see Representative Corneh in the market joking and sharing fun with marketers. He will even cut down the rent and keep dragging to put you out for rental fees just to encourage you to register and vote for him in the market. If you registered in the market and obtained a voting card, you are treated extra as compared to the other people who didn't register here. Even if he's talking or telling people about rent, we can be saying 'Honorable, election time coming oh' and he can just laughed and go upstairs. It happened in 2017 and we are expecting it to happen again," one of the marketers, who spoke on condition anonymity stated.

The failure of the NEC to take action and relocate the two polling precincts elsewhere would deprive other candidates a level playing field to campaign and sell their platforms to the thousands of eligible voters who are housed at the business complex owned by Representative Corneh.

The areas may be declared a "no go zone" for his political opponents since in fact, both the market building, school and hall are his personal properties only borrowed to the NEC to use for the processes of voters' registration and voting on election day.

Residents are anticipating the intervention of electoral stakeholders to compel the commission to act swiftly in a bid to avoid electoral violence or chaos.

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