Vice President Taylor of Liberia mobilizes Bong influencers in support of President Weah. Re-election

GBARNGA – President George Weah will enter the presidential elections in October with a significant advantage – the anticipated retention of Jewel Howard-Taylor for the second election year.

Bong County has been the stronghold of Howard-Taylor's National Patriotic Party (NPP) since the days of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, according to historical records.

Aspect of Bong

Since 2005, when she was elected senator, the standard-bearer of the NPP has been the "Face of Bong politics" In 2014, she was re-elected after defeating independent candidate Henrique Tokpah.

In the 2017 presidential elections, the CDC gained Bong County in both the first and second rounds for the first time in the party's history due to her selection as George Weah's running mate.

According to political analysts, the vice president remains in a strong position to garner votes not only in Bong but also in the central region for the CDC. She is regarded by the overwhelming majority of Bongese (natives of Bong) as the sole individual from the central region who can successfully challenge and defeat the opposition.

"The vice president has been politically tested and demonstrated in the body politic of the nation. In Bong, she has distinguished herself as a popular figure among the residents, and the CDC will benefit from her popularity, according to George Mulbah, chairman of the NPP.

Mulbah believes that the dynamics of 2023 and Howard-Taylor's candidacy for vice president alongside President Weah make the native of Sanoyea the most powerful political force from the central region.

Beyond the rhetoric, Howard-Taylor confronts a number of obstacles in Bong that she must overcome if she hopes to repeat her 2017 success.

Since President Weah was elected in 2017, the CDC has reportedly lost three consecutive by-elections in Bong County, in 2018, 2020, and 2021, due to internal conflict within the CDC Bong Chapter.

Howard-Taylor also faces opposition from Unity Party stalwart Prince Moye, who was elected senator of Bong County by an overwhelming majority in 2020, defeating CDC candidate Henry Yallah. Sen. Moye, a two-term representative prior to his election as senator, has revitalized the UP in Bong County by establishing auxiliary organizations and rallying the county's key political actors behind UP's candidate Joseph Boakai.

Analysts, however, assert that despite these obstacles and the fact that Moye is not on the ballot, Howard-Taylor remains the strongest Bong County native heading into the presidential election. Bong County has a history of consistently lining up behind whoever they believe best represents their interests.

During the interactive session with a group of central region political leaders under the banner "Central Region for Weah-Taylor," Howard-Taylor likely hoped to bolster this sentiment.

"What the average person in Bong County and the central region needs is someone who has been tested and proven on the national and global stage, and we have seen that character in Howard-Taylor," said Yanzeh Cooper, a Nimba resident who attended the meeting in Gbarnga on Tuesday.

Major allies

While the absence of District Three and NPP lawmaker Marvin Cole at Tuesday's launch of voter registration awareness by the party was widely reported, the presence of some top politicians in Bong County suggests that the vice president and the CDC will not be short of foot soldiers and resources to help the CDC win, according to Mulbah of FrontPageAfrica.

He believes that these "movers and shakers" and Howard-Taylor's history and political pedigree will enable her to win the bloc ballots of the central region. According to him, the vice president's strategy is to reach out to all "movers and shakers" in Bong, Nimba, and Lofa, and the party structure in these counties will deliver.