Liberia: Boakai Cries Foul in Lofa Elections

 Joseph M. Boakai, former Vice President and political leader of the opposition Unity Party 

 

 

The opposition Unity Party has rejected the National Elections Commission’s result for Lofa County Senatorial by-election as a "complete sham" result that was undermined by widespread illegalities.

The June 28 election, according to the electoral body chair, Davidetta Browne-Lansanah, was won by Cllr. Joseph Jallah, who was heavily supported by the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) by obtaining 22,019 votes, while Garlakpai Kortimai of the Unity Party came second with just over 21,000 votes.

But for the UP,  the party has evidence to prove the election was marred by many irregularities; some of  which were “outright illegal actions that impacted the results.”

Citing results, UP said it has discovered that at many NEC centers, Jallah, the election winner, and another candidate, Mariamu Fofana, names appeared at least two times on each ballot paper -- “showing that they had gotten different vote totals at the same polling place.”


The former ruling party added that the names of candidates who contested in previous elections were also listed as having won votes in these elections, even though they did not participate. 

“Our country has come through so much and cannot continue to trade peace with a disorderly election,”  former Vice President Joseph Boakai, the UP political leader said. “Our legal team will be communicating with the National Election Commission to establish our final position on the Lofa County election result.” 

“Some candidates from 2020 were listed, and in one instance a candidate from 2011 was also listed. We cannot list all of the many data-related glitches that we have uncovered here. These two deliberate violations stated above clearly cast doubts on the validity of the results announced by the NEC and undermine the sanctity, credibility, and integrity of the votes cast in Lofa County on June 28.”

He added that the UP and its allies take the violations seriously as they have the effect of the NEC selecting a Senator of Lofa County when the people deserve better than an irregular and mistake-prone process presided over by the NEC.

“Over and over, we have questioned the credibility and capacity of this NEC to conduct free and fair elections in Liberia,” Boakai said in a statement. “Their open display of partisanship is also a troubling matter. We do not believe that the Commission as currently constituted can hold credible elections in Liberia in 2023.”
 
This lack of confidence in NEC, according to the UP political leader, is proven by the fact that the electoral body had to “shut down its website” after posting preliminary results on June 30, with math that does not add up.
 
That “single acts,” the UP said, is a clear indication of a red flag as the website was restored hours later “with different results posted” and that the NEC would later inform the public that there were attempts to hack its website.
 
“Following international electoral practice, a declaration of bulk election results is usually associated with rigged elections. To ensure transparency, election results should be disaggregated to enable the key stakeholders to obtain comprehensive information regarding the process,” Boakai added.
 “The bulk result announced by the NEC is a clear indication that some things were going on that were unusual. This is made more evident by the fact that the commission has up to fifteen days to announce the result.” 

“That is sufficient to announce detail as to polling place and the number of votes per candidate. We continue to observe that the numbers published by the elections commission do not add up and that the totals and the percentages are not making sense.”

“Members of the public have observed that attempts to print from the NEC website result in completely different information being printed. This has led us to believe that the information provided to the public could be different from the actual figures that the NEC has in its possession.”
 

UP, citing additional problems with the NEC result, noted that of grave concern was the publication of the final voter roll on the eve of the elections; thus limiting time for voters to make corrections or to authenticate the roll. 

The UP said it considered such moves as an abuse of power —  the “use of government authority with impurity, to put the opposition in a disadvantageous position since manipulation of the roll is made easier when no time is allowed for proper inspection.”
 

The publication of the voters' roll is intended to allow interested parties to observe several things, including names that were left out of the roll that should be there, names that were posted that should not be there, duplicated names, and names without photographs or clear identification. 
 
Other issues of concern, according to the former ruling party, have to do with NEC denying voters with valid voter registration cards the right to vote because “their names were not on the final voter roll.” 

This situation, the UP said, was also observed by independent observers of the elections and its contrary past practices, which put people in such a category to voters provisionally “so that the votes are included after verification. 

 
“In most instances that was not done. On the other hand, our poll watchers also observed that selective voters with no voter registration cards were allowed to vote. This resulted in inflation of the number of votes and made the elections unfair in at least thirty percent of the polling places. This act is illegal. Again, we point to the abuse of power by those in authority with the intent to impact the elections. “
 
Boakai’s party also accused the NEC of only conducting the replacement of lost and damaged voter registration cards only in Voinjama and Kolahun and not including the other three electoral districts — some of which fall in their stronghold.
 
The NEC’s actions, the party said, resulted in many Lofains not being able to participate in the election process, and yet there has been no justification for this action from the NEC. 
 
“Given the foregoing, the Unity Party and its allies are convinced that the current Elections Commission is not representative of the people’s interest and should therefore be scrapped and replaced by a competent and partisan free NEC to prepare for 2023 general and presidential elections,” the former VP said.