Misleading: CDC Did Not Mandate its Partisans to Vote Three Candidates in Impending By-Election

_Summary: 

• _{The Managing Director of the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC, Mohammed Ali, who is a stalwart of the Unity Party, claimed that the CDC has mandated all its supporters in Nimba County to vote for all three candidates endorsed by the Party.}

• _{We fact-checked this claim by reviewing the CDC Nimba Branch press release issued on April 11 and found that Mr. Ali assertion is misleading.}

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_{On April 12, Mohammed Ali, Managing Director of the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC) who is also a senior partisan of the ruling Unity party, claimed in a Facebook post that the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) had instructed all its supporters in Nimba County to mark the names of all three candidates contesting the upcoming by-election on their ballot papers.}

_{According to Ali, the directive was that voters should not select only one candidate but instead mark all three names together: Madam Edith Gongloe Weh,} Garrison Doldeh Yealue, Jr and Mark B. Gblinwon._{Ali posted what he described as an April 11, 2025, press release from the CDC as the source of his claim.}

_{The Claim}

_{Mo Ali’s exact post reads:}

 _{“Dear CDCians in Nimba,
Greetings.
Your party leadership says when you receive your ballot paper on voting day, you should kindly mark these three names:}

1. _{Madam Edith Gongloe Weh}
2. _{Garrison Doldeh Yealue, Jr.}
3. _{Mark B. Gblinwon}

_{Please don’t mark one and leave the other two. The party mandate is that you should mark all the three names together.”}

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_{Rating Justification}

_{To fact-check whether the CDC has instructed its members in Nimba County to vote for all three candidates in the upcoming by-election, we reviewed the official release issued by the CDC’s Nimba Chapter dated April 11, 2025.}

_{The release, signed by Reginald Mehn, Chairman of the CDC-Nimba Branch, calls on all its partisans, auxiliaries, and sympathizers in the county to “align and publicly support EITHER of the three candidates in the Nimba by-election,” referring to Madam Edith Gongloe Weh, Cllr. Garrison Doldeh Yealue, Jr., and Hon. Mark B. Gblinwon. The statement was also published by another key party stalwart, including Jefferson Koijee here.}

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_{This statement contradicts Mo’ Ali’s claim. Rather than mandating that supporters vote for all three candidates, the party gives its members the freedom to support any one of the three candidates, including Madam Edith Gongloe Weh, Cllr. Garrison Doldeh Yealue, Jr., and Hon. Mark B. Gblinwon.}

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_{It is important to note that we have contacted Mr. Ali to provide further context to the claim he made, but he has not responded. We will update this report should he respond to our inquiry with new evidence.}

_Conclusion

_{Based on the evidence we reviewed, we conclude that the claim made by Mohammed Ali that CDC has mandated all its supporters in Nimba County to mark the names of all three candidates endorsed who are contesting in the by-elections all together after receiving their ballot papers on voting day is misleading.}

_{The release he cited does not support his assertion. Instead of instructing supporters to mark all three candidates on the ballot, the CDC’s Nimba Chapter clearly states that supporters may choose to support EITHER of the three candidates, not all at once.}

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