Dr Andrew Salerno-Garthwaite / Dr Andrew Salerno-Garthwaite

Biography

Dr Andrew Salerno-Garthwaite is a journalist, editor and documentarian.

He has degrees in international development and mathematical sciences, training in film and television production, and certification in hostile environment first aid training.

He was highly commended for statistical excellence in journalism by the Royal Statistical Society within the investigative journalism category of the RSS 2020 Awards.

"This story used data and statistical methods to uncover one of the biggest electoral frauds in recent history. With the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s constitutional court due to rule on the validity of the result ten days later, the FT team worked against the clock to analyse and authenticate the voting machine level data they had received.

"They were able to provide the evidence required to show there had been a conspiracy between the outgoing autocrat Joseph Kabila and incoming president Felix Tshisekedi to block the rightful winner, Martin Fayulu, from power. The judging panel found this to be a powerful example of using statistics to challenge a decision and were impressed by the checks made and explanation given for the legitimacy of the leaked data used." - RSS

The Financial Times • 15th January 2019

Congo voting data reveal huge fraud in poll to replace Kabila

Martin Fayulu was the clear winner of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s presidential elections last month, a Financial Times analysis of two separate collections of voting data shows, contradicting claims from authorities that rival contender Felix Tshisekedi had won the historic vote. The analysis points to huge fraud in the first change of power since Joseph Kabila took over the presidency of the mineral-rich central African nation almost 18 years ago.