By E. Geedahgar Garsuah
MONROVIA: The ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), of incumbent President, George Weah, through its National Chairman, Mulbah Morlu, has called for the unconditional removal from office and subsequent replacement of Rev. Isaac Samuel Zahn, Director of Database at the National Elections Commission (NEC).
In a formal communication, dated October 11, 2023, a copy of which is in the possession of this paper, Chairman Morlu alleged that Rev. Zahn holds political allegiance to the opposition Unity Party (UP).
According to the communication which is addressed to NEC Chairperson, Madam Davidetta Brown Lansanah, having Rev. Zahn as Head of the Database System of NEC has the propensity to place a stain on the integrity of October 10, 2023 elections results.
Morlu: “We are requesting his immediate removal from the Commission to protect the integrity and credibility of tallied election results. 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 CDC told the NEC Boss that to allow Rev. Zahn, a staunch supporter of the UP stay in such crucial position would undermine the credibility of the Database Center and by extension, the elections results.
Morlu’s letter asserted that Zahn’s alleged “open relationship” with Evangelist Joshua Milton Blahyi, a former rebel leader, known as “Butt-Naked” who is aligned with the Unity Party, is troublesome, given the fact that he (Zahn) still has jurisdiction over the NEC’S database setup.
“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,” Morlu pointed out in the communication.
The CDC’S Chairman made known his qualms about the NEC arrangement process of the votes, pointing accusing finger at the Commission which he alleged is ignoring best practices, such as allowing final tally sheets of the vote count to be printed, bearing the signatures of NEC staffs, instead of political party’s agents.
Morlu: “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.”
“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,” the ruling party told the NEC Chairperson.
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.”
The NEC Chairperson confirmed that she received the letter from the CDC Chairman, Mulbah Morlu.
She indicated that there will be a decision on the CDC’s communication after a conference with the Political Affairs Section of NEC, which the ruling party has called for.
It is in the said conference with NEC that the CDC Chairman and his party officials will defend the claims being made against the NEC DATA Head.
Prior to yesterday’s vote count, NEC’s preliminary poll results earlier indicated that 4,295 of the 5,890 polling (72.92%) places announced by NEC, incumbent President George Weah, who is also Standard-bearer of the governing CDC obtained 593,558 (43.80%) while Amb. Joseph Boakai, Standard-bearer of the opposition Unity Party (UP), obtained 589,977 (43.54%).
Total valid votes from these polling places were 1,355,140 while invalid votes amounted to 80,910.
