This Obscure Liberian Election was the Most Rigged in History
“TIL that Charles D. B. King holds the record for the most fraudulent election in history. In 1927 he was elected President of Liberia with 234,000 votes in a country that only had 15,000 registered voters at the time.” – Obscure Fact by ThePainCrafter. Many historians agree, that this was, in fact, the most rigged election in history. And the problems didn’t stop there. Following the election, the members of the True Whig Party (Charles D.B. King’s party) government of using slave labor at home and selling slaves to a Spanish colony. The government, of course, denied this and refused to cooperate.
The League of Nations established the “International Commission of Inquiry into the Existence of Slavery and Forced Labor in the Republic of Liberia” to determine the extent of the problem. American President Herbert Hoover briefly suspended relations to press the government into compliance. In 1930, the committee’s report was published, and although it could not substantiate charges of slavery and forced labor, it implicated government officials, including both King and vice president Allen Yancy in profiting from forced labor, which is equated to slavery. There were also suggestions about putting Liberia into trusteeship. Impeachment procedures began shortly after.