Claim: District number two has been the home of the Unity Party.
Source: Sekou Kanneh, Former Montserrado District 2 lawmaker
Full Text: Members of the Unity Party, including its standard bearer and vice standard bearer, are currently visiting districts in Montserrado County.
When the party rally was held on June 9 in District 2, its former lawmaker Sekou Kanneh claimed (24:23) that the district has been a home for the Unity Party.
“It is no mistake that this district has proven to be a Unity Party district.”
Konneh was elected in 2011 as a representative on the Unity Party ticket, where he served for one term and was defeated by Jimmy Smith of the Coalition for Democratic Change.
Verification: Since the end of the civil crisis in 2003, Liberia has held three elections, namely, 2005, 2011, and 2017. The October 2023 election will sum up four post-war elections.
The Unity Party (UP) is a Liberian political party founded in 1984 by Edward B. Kesselly, who also served as its first standard bearer.
The party was officially created on July 27, 1985, in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County. In October 1985, the Unity Party ran against President Samuel Doe in the first elections following the 1980 coup. Since then, the party has remained prominent in Liberian politics. It was the dominant party until 2017.
See what the record shows
The votes accumulated by Sekou Kanneh of the Unity Party, who is currently re-contesting, are lower than those of the two other candidates who won the elections in 2005 and 2017.
Conclusion: The claim by the former Montserrado District 2 lawmaker is incorrect. Data shows that the Coalition has won the district twice as compared to the Unity Party.
This story was produced with the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID)’s support.
