UP plays down former VP backoff claims
Former Vice President Joseph N. Boakai will contest in the upcoming October 10, 2023, General and Presidential elections despite claims that he is considering plans to back off and support Mr. Alexander Cummings' presidential bid.
Unity Party (UP) National Secretary General Amos Tweh told the New Dawn on Wednesday, March 1, that "Mr. Joseph Nyumah Boakai is standing tall in the 2023 elections."
He narrated that the former vice President and UP are holding talks with current allies and trying to woo new ones to join the UP as it galvanizes forces to remove incumbent President George M. Weah at the 2023 ballot.
He said the UP hands are open to welcome and work with Mr. Cummings, adding that all cards are on the table.
Mr. Tweh's comments followed claims by Mr. Cummings' deputy Chief of staff Mr. Mulbah K. Yorgbor's claims on State Radio Wednesday, March 1, that there have been ongoing consultations between Mr. Cummings and Mr. Boakai for him (Boakai), to back off from the election as a leading candidate support his boss.
Speaking on the program Flash Point, Mr. Yorgbor said Cummings would even want Mr. Boakai to go beyond just endorsing him but to also join his campaign team.
Mr. Yorgbor noted that such conversation between the two men has been ongoing for a while and that up to present negotiations are still ongoing to convince Mr. Boakai.
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Yorgbor, who claimed to be a former supporter of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) from its formative stage in 2005, expressed conviction that a Weah versus Cummings would present the best opportunity for the opposition bloc to defeat incumbent Weah.
On speculations that it is instead Mr. Cummings' team which has approached the UP for the former to run as vice president to Boakai, Yougbor dismissed same as mere gossip.
"I can state, there has been no offer made to Mr. Cummings to run as Vice Presidential Candidate to Mr. Boakai, not at all, zero offer, none has been made," he said.
Mr. Yorgbor's comments come as the Collaborating Political Parties (CCP) just announced that it has begun vetting individuals for its vice-presidential candidate slug.
But he maintained that there had been an ongoing conversation wherein Mr. Cummings asked Mr. Boakai to back off and support his presidential bid.
He said the CPP is poised to announce its running mate between the months of April and March.
Liberians are headed to the polls in October, this year. The Alternative National Congress (ANC) which came into limelight back in 2016, with just 18 months to elections in 2017, finished in fifth (5th) accumulating (7%).
The ANC/ CPP looks stronger in competing in the upcoming Presidential election and is described as one of the main opposition rivals to President Weah.
