Rep. Samuel Gongben Kogar of the Movement of Democracy and Reconstruction has emerged as the winner in the Nimba Senatorial By-Election, with the National Election Commission (NEC) confirming him as the winner. His major rival, Gongloe-Weh, gracefully conceded defeat and encouraged her supporters to accept the results.
The NEC on Thursday, April 24, concluded the tallying of ballots, announcing Kogar at a press conference as the winner with 62,136 votes, making up 52.08% of the total votes.
The NEC confirmed at a press conference held at the Administrative Building in Sanniquellie that all 736 polling places in Nimba had been fully checked and praised the election for its peaceful, transparent, and fair nature. Madame Gongloe-Weh, Kogar’s closest rival, gracefully accepted defeat and advised her supporters to respect the outcome.
According to the NEC final report, a total of 122,312 registered voters took part in the election, out of the total votes cast, 3,010 votes were invalid, while the total of 119,302 votes were valid.
“The progressive tally report Samuel G. Kogar obtained 62,136, constituting 52.08%, while his closest rival Madame Edith Gongloe Weh obtained 40,506, constituting 33.96%, followed by former Nimba Inspection Mark Gblinwon with the total votes of 7,489 or 6.28%, Cllr Garrison Yealue also obtained the total votes of 5,513 or 4.62%,” NEC Chairperson, Davidetta Lansanah, said.
Prior to announcing final result, Madame Edith Gongloe Weh conceded defeat, congratulating Kogar for the victory warning her to supporters to avoid any hate speech or remarks as the election was over, saying, “in every election there should be a winner and Kogar has won,”
She thanked all those who stood by her during the time of the election, describing the election as tense for her, because all the entire campaign’s process was against her, urging her supporters to remain resilient and accept the result.
Upon the final announcement, Kogar’s supporters celebrated the outcome, emphasizing unity and progress for Nimba County. Both candidates expressed gratitude to their supporters and emphasized the importance of unity and collaboration for the county’s development.
The campaign period was tense, marked by engagement from various political figures and local authorities. Kogar’s message emphasized unity and satisfaction among Nimba’s ethnic groups. Moving forward, Kogar expressed gratitude to his supporters and called for unity in advancing Nimba’s development.
The election, which saw involvement from both Mano and Gio tribes, did not show signs of tribal animosity, as evidenced by the unified jubilation following the announcement.
“This election is not about women being elected in the House of Senate, rather it is about Nimba unity and how to bring satisfaction among the citizens,” said former Sanniquellie City Mayor, Madam Mary Gonlepa, who was once Edith closest ally in the previous election she contested and lost.
“Since the current senator is a Mano man, the next senator should also come from the Gio settlement to balance the equation as it used to be those days,” said another lady in Sanniquellie.
However, on his Facebook page, Kogar had extended his many thanks to the supporters and the entire citizens of Nimba, “I, Hon. Samuel G Kogar, wish to extend many thanks and appreciation to all my supporters and the entire citizens of Nimba County for conducting themselves peacefully during the just ended senatorial by-election in the county.”
“I am rallying all of us to support us as we build our County through Unity as the recipes for the development of our county and its people through togetherness and with collective efforts,” he said on his Facebook page.
Even the senatorial by-election took a tribal trend, when it came to balancing the senatorial equation among the two major tribes in Nimba, but the result doesn’t show any tribal hatred among the two major tribes, the Man or Dan, as they are commonly called locally in Nimba, because you can jubilation faces of everybody, being Mano or Gio.
Meanwhile the votes in the by-election showed that there was low turnout in the senatorial by – election, because Nimba had over 307k registered voters according to NEC Final Registration Roll, but those who turnout were 122k, indicating that less than half of the registered voters.
Some of the factors this paper established are, limited time in voter education, publicity and awareness in terms of displaying postal, again, some disenchanted youth, who applied to NEC and selected, trained as temporary workers in poll alleged of being dropped and replaced by those who didn’t go through the training, while some were tired of political rhetoric.
