Two candidates who were reportedly defeated in the recent Nimba County District #5 Representative By-Election are considering legal action to challenge the results, citing allegations of vote manipulation, fraud, and other issues.
Following the announcement of the National Election Commission's consolidated results, which declared MDR candidate Kortor Kwagrue as the winner with 31.39% of the votes, Independent Candidate Bories Barlea and Rebuilder Political Movement candidate Madee Karmah Wongbay expressed concerns over election irregularities and has requested a recount in eight polling precincts.
Kwagrue was declared the winner, obtaining 4796 votes, representing 31.39%, while his main rival, Barlea, got 3938, constituting 25.78%. Wongbay, the lone female candidate, obtained 20 votes, representing 0.13%.
Hours after NEC announced the official results, Barlea and Wongbay highlighted alleged discrepancies in the results and raised questions about the transparency of the electoral process, emphasizing the need for a fair recount to ensure accuracy and clarity in determining the rightful winner.
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Female Candidate Obtain Zero Votes Where she Voted
Wongbaye, in a statement on Thursday, August 14, alleged that the results were tampered with, resulting in low votes for her.
In her argument, she revealed that she obtained about 995 votes across the polling places in the district, and in the Gomaplay Precinct alone, she got 25 votes, "then how can NEC say she had 20 votes in the entire voting process?" she asked. "Even in the particular polling place where I cast my ballot in Beadatuo precinct, I was marked 0," she said.
She said in 2023, her votes were tempered in a similar manner, and she attempted to go to court, but she was asked to allow it to go.
"This challenge against the result does not mean that we are fighting to win, but the right thing should be done and let all the candidates get the numbers of votes cast for them," she said.
"This is a clever strategy to make women irrelevant to the public, so people or voters will think women cannot make it politically," she said.
Nimba County is a highly patriarchal society where women have struggled for decades to gain political relevance. Since the end of the civil war and the resumption of multi-party democracy and elections in 2005, only one woman, Nohn Kidau, has been elected in Nimba as a lawmaker. Every other woman has struggled to win an elected seat in the nation's second most populous county -- one of the biggest victims being Madam Edith Gongloe-Weh, who has contested nearly five times --losing all.
However, Nimba is not alone in being a harsh terrain for women's political leadership. Many of the counties in the Southeast, especially Sinoe, Grand Kru, and River Gee Counties, have also not been supportive of women's political leadership as far as elections are concerned.
Another aggrieved contestant of the Nimba by-election, Independent candidate Barlea, has also described the process as fraudulent and said that he will also seek legal redress.
"While it is true that the NEC has announced the result of the election, we have come to inform our peaceful citizens and the public that we officially wrote our complaints to the National Election Commission requesting a recount in 8 polling precincts across the district," the aggrieved candidates said in a statement posted on social media.
They named the eight precincts as Teaplay, Bleemieplay, Lepula, Dinplay, Gruzeanplay, Beadatuo, Gbloulay, and Beeplay.
In a statement posted on his Facebook page, Bories said his team believes that "the results across the eight centers do not reflect the actual views of our people who took up their precious time to speak peacefully through the ballot box."
"We want those who will lead our district to be people with impeccable character and not handpicked by someone outside the district who thinks that they are so powerful and can make a choice for our people," the statement said.
They assured the public that once the recount is done, they will congratulate the actual winner.
"We can assure our people that when the recount is impartially done, we will happily accept the result, congratulate the winner, and work with them for the best interest of Buuyao Administrative District," the statement said.
The team called on supporters to remain peaceful while the issue is looked into by the NEC.
The voting was marred by violence and intimidation from supporters of MDR candidate Kortor Kwagrue. Some of them were arrested with guns by the LNP and, before daybreak, nearly all the tally papers were taken down.
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"Because of violent movement, our poll watchers and supervisors were afraid to tally reports from the bulletin freely over night," Madee said.
When contacted, the Upper Nimba Registrar of the National Elections Commission, Mr. Milton Paye confirmed that his office had so far received complaints from Candidate Bories Barlea and the hearing will begin today, August 15, 2025, at the NEC local office in Sanniquellie.
The Daily Observer is yet to know how the two aggrieved candidates arrived at the conclusion of cheating or manipulation of the election, but, for Madee, her performance in nearly all the polling places around the Nyor belt, especially Gomaplay, where she claimed to have 25 votes, was very poor, getting zero in most of the centers.
Meanwhile, the incidents of violence and intimidation that marred the electoral process also raised further concerns about the security and transparency of the electoral process. Authorities are investigating these issues to ensure accountability and uphold the integrity of the electoral system.
