PHOTO: Declared winner Cllr. Joseph Jallah
By Our Staff Writer
The National Elections Commission (NEC) today, Friday, July 1, 2022 announced the final results of the June 28 Lofa County Senatorial By-election, declaring Independent candidate Cllr. Joseph Jallah winner.
“Mr. Joseph Jallah, having scored the highest number of votes is hereby declared the winner of the Lofa County by-election,” NEC Chairman Davidetta Browne Lansana announced at the Commission’s headquarters in Monrovia.
According to the NEC results, Cllr. Jallah scored 22,019 votes to defeat his closest rival, Garlakpai Kortimai of the Unity Party with 21,229 votes in the election which passed off peacefully.
That means, Jallah won by just 790 votes in last Monday’s poll that contested by four other candidates.
Cllr Joseph Jallah declared winner in joyous mood
NEC said the final results announced was for the entire 454 polling places in Lofa County.
Jallah was backed by the ruling CDC party, which has shied away from fielding a candidate in the stronghold of former Vice President Joseph Boakai, who is Standard Bearer of the Unity Party.
Earlier in the week, NEC released the provisional results and said it represented 83.92% out of 100% tally, but did not state specific areas the results originated from.
Candidate Galakpai Kortimai
In that results, it said Cllr. Joseph Jallah (Indep) got 20,482 votes constituting 40.61%, while Galakpai Kortimai (UP) 16,666 votes, amounting to 33.0%.
Even before NEC could announce the final results, two of the six candidates had conceded defeat and congratulated the now declared winner. They include Momo Cyrus and Mariamu Beyan Fofana, both independent candidates.
Mr. Cyrus while conceding defeat said that he was not dropping his ambition to enter the Senate, vowing to return to the race in the g 2023 election, when half of the 30-member Senate seats will be up for grabs.