MONROVIA – The main opposition Unity Party (UP) leader, former VP Joseph N. Boakai (JNB), has vowed that any attempt for the 10 October elections results to be manipulated by rigging the ballots would be resisted.
Boakai, who did not elaborate on how forceful such resistance would be, told a mammoth crowd of supporters at his party’s Sunday, 17 September 2023 official campaign launch at a football stadium in the capital, Monrovia that he was making it abundantly clear that any plans or attempts to thwart the will of Liberian electorate aimed at what he termed as stealing results of next month’s elections, would be forcefully resisted.
He assured his supporters that plans and attempts of vote-rigging would be resisted by the people of Liberia, and the international community.
The former vice president, who intoned that he appreciates recent statements coming from some of Liberia’s partners including the United States government regarding safeguarding the integrity of his country’s elections this year, inferred that to resist vote-rigging during the October polls, he would heavily rely on the international community, which he said has invested so much in the peace and stability of Liberia.
Preserving the sanctity of elections and ensuring that the will of the people are accurately represented are both of paramount importance in upholding the principles of democracy, Boakai stated.
He disclosed that he would leave no stone unturned in working with international prosecutors to expose and arrest individuals who may foster electoral violence and derail the country’s hard-won peace.
The UP standard bearer, while acknowledging the significance of the imposition of sanctions on those who would attempt to steal the votes of Liberians, called on international actors to instead, now begin to engage the Liberian electoral process, as far as averting vote-rigging is concerned.
“While we welcome the imposition of sanctions on those who would attempt to thwart the will of the Liberian people, we call on ECOWAS, the United States, the European Union, the African Union, and organizations such as International Foundation for Electoral System (IFES) to fully, thoroughly and actively engage the process now to avert any threat that will undermine these elections by acknowledging and understanding the significance of identifying and combatting any attempts to undermine this fundamental aspect of our society,” pleaded Boakai, who bragged that he and his followers are at the verge of altering the direction of Liberia’s multiparty democracy in an election victory as never before seen.
