On November 22, the Secretary General of the Coalition for Democratic Change who is also the Mayor of Monrovia city, Jefferson T. Koijee during a press conference claimed that the November 14 Presidential run-off election was stolen in favor of the Unity Party.
Mayor Koijee claim can be found at around twenty-eight minutes forty-five seconds (28:45) timestamp of the over one-hour live Facebook video.
The Claim
Mr. Koijee’s exact words were: “We want to say to you clearly that the president has conceded; we have clear-cut evidence that these elections were stolen. So, let the word go forth that the CDC is very clear that these elections were not won, these elections were stolen”.
When we asked about the evidence to prove his claim, the CDC Secretary argued that the National Elections Commission “pointed out that at a polling place in Nimba [County] people voted and there were 50 votes above the record”.
He further that in the 25-count complaint the CDC wrote to NEC, the party contended in its complaint that they “saw places where there were ballots stuffing in Nimba County”.
Rating Justification
To fact check this claim, we first contacted the Mayor through his Administrative Assistant, Mohammed Bamba Jr., who shared with us the CDC complaint filed to NEC. The complaint raises several issues that allegedly occurred in five districts of Nimba County. However, there is no evidence that these allegations as contained in the complaint have been proven during a legal process to render the voting in these areas “stolen”.
We will update this report once we hear from NEC about the outcome of the CDC complaint.
To further fact check if there have been incidents of back Mr. Koijee’s claim, we also checked and found the November 17 daily press briefing of NEC during which the Chairperson announced a re-run at Varmin Elementary and Junior High School in District 9, Nimba County – Precinct Code 33090.
The NEC Chairperson also announced that the results from 20 polling places had been quarantined in Grand Kru County. According to NEC, the re-run was due to the number of valid votes 379 exceeding the number of registered voters 329.
Results from the re-run and final results of the elections were announced on Monday November 20, 2023, after these quarantined votes were “reviewed, clear, processed, approved” and announced on November 18, 2023.
We also contacted NEC through its Chairman for Strategic Communications Samuel Cole via WhatsApp. He replied saying, “NEC has not recorded any proven record of ballot stuffing”.
In addition to the evidence reviewed by our fact checking desk and the incidents announced by NEC, which was later reviewed and cleared, we also reviewed several reports by international election observers of the 2023 Legislative and Presidential elections.
A statement released by the United States Embassy in Monrovia ion November 22. The statement congratulated NEC for “independently organizing the elections under intense pressure and facing daunting challenges”. Stating that the election “accurately reflected the will of the people”.
Also, ECOWAS in its congratulatory letter to Liberia commended “NEC and all other stakeholders for their commitment to a credible and inclusive elections as enshrined in the Farmington River Declaration.”
Local observation groups like the Election Coordinating Commission in a press release on the November 14 presidential run-off election stated that “the conduct of a free, fair, and transparent election is a fulfillment of the President’s commitment to holding a credible election”.
Also, Liberia Elections Observation Network (LEON) in a press conference on November 18, 2023 said their mid-point estimate of the November 14 run-off elections are consistent with results announced by NEC.
Conclusion
Based on these facts, we, therefore, conclude that the claim made by CDC General Secretary and mayor of Monrovia Jefferson T. Koijee that the November 14 Presidential Run-off election was stolen is unproven. There is no evidence to show that the presidential run-off election of November 14 was stolen by the winner. The complaint filed by the CDC is based on allegations that have not been proven through the legal process to declare the final result as stolen.
Local and international observation missions of the election have pointed at no major incident of election fraud, and they have described the process as “credible and inclusive” and that the election “accurately reflected the will of the people”.
This report was developed with the support of Internews through the USAID Media Activity project. The funder has no say in the editorial decision leading to the production of this content