Misleading! Electoral district 17 not most populous in Liberia

Claim: “District 17 is the largest district in terms of population in this country,” says the chief imam of Liberia.

Verdict: Misleading. The 2023 final electoral district population data show that District 4 is the most populous electoral district in Liberia. 

Full Text

The commercial hub of Redlight was a scene of attraction on Thursday, November 13, 2025, when some residents of the area and the Liberia National clashed over a land crisis.

Discussing the conflict on a local radio show, the Chief Imam of Liberia, Ali Krayee, said that the residents involved in the fight are Muslims, alleging that they are claiming that the fight is an attack on Muslims in the country.

Krayee criticised the residents for resisting the police and said that the situation is not a religious attack, as it is being insinuated. 

He referenced that the police have made several arrests of Muslims in other parts of Liberia, including District 17, but said no Muslims spoke against the situation.

According to Imam Krayee, “District 17 is the largest district in terms of population in this country,” and the majority of the people there are Muslims. Still, they did not raise religious issues because one of their own was victimised.

He can be heard from 2:14:33 to 1:15:14 of the programme. The show got 24,800 views, 508 comments, 405 reactions, and 78 shares as of November 19, 2025.

To amplify truth in the information ecosystem, DUBAWA verified the imam’s claim.

Verification 

DUBAWA obtained a copy of the final electoral district data from Philip Toe, Deputy Director of the National Elections Commission (NEC) data centre.

The NEC is constitutionally responsible for delimiting Liberia’s final census results into electoral districts, based on the threshold set by the national legislature for each district. 

Article 80 (d)  of the 1986 constitution of Liberia states, “Each constituency shall have an approximately equal population of 20,000, or such number of citizens as the legislature shall prescribe in keeping with population growth and movement as revealed by a national census…”

The census mapping does not exclude any single Liberian from the country’s total population, regardless of age.

Article 80 (e) says, “The elections commission shall reapportion the constituencies in accordance with the new population figures so that every constituency shall have as close to the same population as possible…”

Screenshot of articles 80d and e of the constitution.

The NEC’s most recent 2023 reapportionment figure shows that electoral district 17 has a total population of 73,153, while district 4 has a population of 75,517, a difference of over 2,000 people.

Photo of the final figures shared by the NEC

This indicates that District 4 is the largest population electoral district in Liberia, not District 17.

Conclusion 

Imam Ali Krayee’s claim that District 17 is the most populous in Liberia is misleading.