{"id":16343,"date":"2023-10-12T10:48:50","date_gmt":"2023-10-12T09:48:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/?p=16343"},"modified":"2023-10-12T13:47:06","modified_gmt":"2023-10-12T12:47:06","slug":"casting-carts-before-horses-the-case-of-liberias-premature-election-victory-declarations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/casting-carts-before-horses-the-case-of-liberias-premature-election-victory-declarations\/","title":{"rendered":"Casting\u00a0 carts\u00a0 before\u00a0 horses: The case of Liberia\u2019s premature election victory declarations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The race for elected offices in Liberia has come to a near end, with vote counting ongoing after a tense voting process accounting for a huge turnout, according to election observers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, Oct 10, the general election started at 8:00 am and ended at 6:00 pm, featuring 20 Presidential candidates, including the incumbent president, George Weah.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liberians also voted to elect 73 members of the House of Representatives and 15 Senators.  Hours after voting has ended in the West African nation, many candidates and surrogates have taken to social media pages declaring victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The self-declaration from these candidates and surrogates has generated huge engagements on Facebook, including likes, comments, and shares. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People who have done these are representative candidate Emmanuel Dahn<\/a> of electoral District #7 in Montserrado County, Karishma Pelham Raad<\/a>, a representative candidate in D#10 Montserrado County,  Rep. Francis Saidy Dopoh I,<\/a> who is contesting the Senate in River Gee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others are Cornelia Kruah-Togba<\/a> of District 13 Montserrado and sitting representative Acarous Moses Gray<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Gray had this to say: \u201cTEAM GRAY speaks to the media today at 2pm from his Plumkor Campaign Office with facts from the tallied results coming from all polling centres in the district. Go and sleep as victory is ours yah. You can\u2019t defeat an Hon Acarous Moses Gray<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elsewhere, Cornelia Kruah-Togba said, \u201cWe have few polling places left but from all indications, we\u2019ve lost.\u201d  On the other hand,  Rep. Francis Dopoh said, \u201cRiver Gee County spoke!\u201d as he received tons of best wishes from well-wishers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe people have spoken,\u201d said Dahn. \u201cAs we await NEC to validate the records, we call on our supporters to go out and celebrate.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karishma Pelham-Raad of electoral district #10 conceded without NEC\u2019s official result. \u201cCongratulations to Hon. Yekeh Kolubah on being re-elected as the next Lawmaker of District #10,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of the claims from these candidates or surrogates came with a scintilla of evidence or backing from the electoral body. This has alarmed many observers, including the media in Liberia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amidst the outpouring of congratulatory messages from them and Facebook commenters, DUBAWA looks behind the scenes, zooming in on the violation of the electoral laws that oppose early declarations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What law does it violate?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The National Elections Commission, according to Liberian laws, is the only legal institution charged to conduct national elections in Liberia and announce results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research on the new elections law of Liberia found that under \u2018Election offences,\u2019 Section 10.1a says: \u201cThe following act shall constitute malfeasance, punishable under this chapter (a) influencing or attempting to influence the results of any election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A senior official of the National Elections Commission who preferred anonymity due to his sensitive role at the NEC decried the actions of the political actors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is a serious crime and obstruction, and manipulation of elections results will soon lead to conflict and chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), in its 3rd statement on the Oct.10 elections following observers reports, urged all parties to wait on the election body for results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe call on all stakeholders to exercise tolerance and trust in the electoral system while we wait for the collation, counting, tallying and final declaration of the results by the National Electoral Commission,\u201d the statement said in Monrovia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The race for elected offices in Liberia has come to a near end, with vote counting ongoing after a tense voting process accounting for a huge turnout, according to election observers. On Tuesday, Oct 10, the general election started at 8:00 am and ended at 6:00 pm, featuring 20 Presidential candidates, including the incumbent president, George Weah.\u00a0 Liberians also voted to elect 73 members of the House of Representatives and 15 Senators.  Hours after voting has ended in the West African nation, many candidates and surrogates have taken to social media pages declaring victory. The self-declaration from these candidates and surrogates has generated huge engagements on Facebook, including likes, comments, and shares.  People who have done these are representative candidate Emmanuel Dahn of electoral District #7 in Montserrado County, Karishma Pelham Raad, a representative candidate in D#10 Montserrado County,  Rep. Francis Saidy Dopoh I, who is contesting the Senate in River Gee.  Others are Cornelia Kruah-Togba of District 13 Montserrado and sitting representative Acarous Moses Gray. Rep. Gray had this to say: \u201cTEAM GRAY speaks to the media today at 2pm from his Plumkor Campaign Office with facts from the tallied results coming from all polling centres in the district. Go and sleep as victory is ours yah. You can\u2019t defeat an Hon Acarous Moses Gray.\u201d Elsewhere, Cornelia Kruah-Togba said, \u201cWe have few polling places left but from all indications, we\u2019ve lost.\u201d  On the other hand,  Rep. Francis Dopoh said, \u201cRiver Gee County spoke!\u201d as he received tons of best wishes from well-wishers. \u201cThe people have spoken,\u201d said Dahn. \u201cAs we await NEC to validate the records, we call on our supporters to go out and celebrate.\u201d  Karishma Pelham-Raad of electoral district #10 conceded without NEC\u2019s official result. \u201cCongratulations to Hon. Yekeh Kolubah on being re-elected as the next Lawmaker of District #10,\u201d she said. None of the claims from these candidates or surrogates came with a scintilla of evidence or backing from the electoral body. This has alarmed many observers, including the media in Liberia.  Amidst the outpouring of congratulatory messages from them and Facebook commenters, DUBAWA looks behind the scenes, zooming in on the violation of the electoral laws that oppose early declarations. What law does it violate? The National Elections Commission, according to Liberian laws, is the only legal institution charged to conduct national elections in Liberia and announce results. Research on the new elections law of Liberia found that under \u2018Election offences,\u2019 Section 10.1a says: \u201cThe following act shall constitute malfeasance, punishable under this chapter (a) influencing or attempting to influence the results of any election. A senior official of the National Elections Commission who preferred anonymity due to his sensitive role at the NEC decried the actions of the political actors. \u201cIt is a serious crime and obstruction, and manipulation of elections results will soon lead to conflict and chaos.\u201d In addition, the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), in its 3rd statement on the Oct.10 elections following observers reports, urged all parties to wait on the election body for results. \u201cWe call on all stakeholders to exercise tolerance and trust in the electoral system while we wait for the collation, counting, tallying and final declaration of the results by the National Electoral Commission,\u201d the statement said in Monrovia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"hannibal_claim_source":"","hannibal_source_label":"","hannibal_card_color":"blue","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[5,3812,3815,1960],"tags":[],"verdict":[],"ppma_author":[3777,3850],"class_list":["post-16343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-elections","category-headline","category-homepage","category-liberia"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8R6dE-4fB","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":3777,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"varney-dukuly","display_name":"Varney Dukuly","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":""},{"term_id":3850,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"kennedy-twumasi","display_name":"Kennedy Twumasi","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Vote-liberia.jpg?fit=976%2C549&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16343"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16358,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16343\/revisions\/16358"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16343"},{"taxonomy":"verdict","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/verdict?post=16343"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=16343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}