In 1927, Charles D. B. King , the 17th President of Liberia, secured a re-election victory that was so mathematically impossible it earned him a permanent spot in the Guinness World Records for the most fraudulent election in history. The Impossible Landslide
: The ruling class often behaved as a superior group to the indigenous population, excluding them from the democratic process while simultaneously exploiting their labor. Scandal and Resignation
: Voting rights were constitutionally limited to Americo-Liberians, a small minority of the population.
A subsequent League of Nations commission investigated these claims, particularly focusing on the government's role in sending forced laborers to the Spanish colony of Fernando Po. The findings were so damaging that the House of Representatives began impeachment procedures, leading King to resign in 1930.
The massive discrepancy was a symptom of deeper systemic issues in Liberia during that era: