Liberia: Ruling Party Seeks Dismissal of Electoral Body's 'Database Director'

By Tina S. Mehnpaine

The ruling Coalition for Democratic Change of President George Weah has requested the dismissal of Rev. Isaac Samuel Zahn, the Director of the Database at the National Elections Commission (NEC).

In a letter dated October 11 — just a day after the close of the polls — the ruling party claimed that the credibility of the election results would be undermined if Zahn, whom they claimed is an affiliate of the opposition Unity Party, which former Vice President Boakai heads, stays in his position.

The letter, signed by the Party Chairman, Mulbah Morlu, and directed to Davidetta Brown-Lansanah, the Chairperson of the NEC, claims that the removal of Zahn from his position would protect the integrity and credibility of the election results.

“We are requesting his [Zahn] immediate removal from the commission to protect the integrity and credibility of tallied election results,” Morlu said in his two-page letter. “Madam Chair, it remains deeply puzzling why the commission stands so beholden to Mr. Zahn that it would risk the collective integrity of the electoral process and then take prudent action to have him removed.

“The CDC expresses profound disappointment about the retention of Zahn. We are requesting his immediate removal from the commission to protect the integrity and credibility of tallied election results — a publicly known associate of the Unity Party and its militant wing as NEC Director of Database,” Morlu added.

The letter, which the NEC Chair has confirmed to have received, will be decided on at the end of a conference, which the ruling party has been called to have with the political affairs section of the electoral body. It is there that Morlu and his officials will have to defend the claims and present all that is stated in the letter against Zahn.

The ruling party, which since the close of the October 10 polls has been claiming victory, even though the NEC has yet to announce the final results of the elections, inserted a link in its complaint as evidence that Zahn is an operative of the Unity Party.

Morlu’s letter argued that Zahn’s alleged “open relationship” with Joshua Milton Blahyi, a former rebel leader known as “Butt-Naked” who is aligned with the Unity Party, is a worrisome concern for the fact that he still has control over the Commission’s database and plays a role in managing it.

“In support of this request, we have enclosed both a link to a press conference in which your staff was accused of being an operative of the Unity Party and flyers for some of the Crusades he routinely co-hosts with his spiritual father, Joshua Milton Blahyi, a staunch member of the Unity Party,” the letter said.

Morlu’s letter also raised concerns about the NEC collation process, as it accused the electoral body of deviating from standard practice, such as allowing final tally sheets of the vote count to be printed with the signatures of NEC staff instead of party agents.

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The letter also noted widespread mathematical errors on the tally sheets, posing a risk of miscalculations being inserted into the process.

“We also bring to your attention specific issues relating to the manner in which the collation process is being conducted so far. Of note, final tally sheets are being printed with signatures of NEC staff rather than party agents for validation, a deviation from standard practice and history,” Morlu said.

“With this deviation from standard practice, there is a risk that unauthorized sheets could be included in the final tally without our involvement in the review/entry and placement in the Zahn-managed database.

He added “The CDC also announced the widespread and recurrent mathematical errors on tally sheets plaguing the process. While at this time we are unable to say that they are being done with the intent of depriving any particular political party, there is a risk that eventually miscalculations are inserted into the process and camouflaged as errors.”

Morlu also accused NEC staff of not giving single copies of the printout tally sheet they placed on “the walls” to party agents at the end of the counting process on the nights of October 10.

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