Claim: A voice note has been shared multiple times on social media in which the Deputy Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mohamed Pope Kamara, is heard saying that 80% of the polling centres did not start voting at 7am. According to him, that was part of the strategy by the ECSL and the incumbent SLPP to frustrate voters from their strongholds.
Findings
DUBAWA has spoken to Kamara, and he confirmed that he indeed shared the voice note.
Per Section 71 (1) of the Public Elections Act, 2022, “The hours of voting shall be from 7 am to 5 pm or such later time as the Electoral Commission may allow.”
Whilst Kamara did not reference any source for his estimation of the number of polling centres that opened late, DUBAWA fact-checked a number of polling stations in which voting had not started hours after the official voting time had ended.
In addition, DUBAWA went through the latest update of the National Elections Watch (NEW), an independent observer network and found that in 84% of the polls where they observed the elections, polling centres opened at 8:00 am, one hour or more, than the expected voting time.
VERDICT: True
