President Weah, opposition leader Boakai nearly tied in Liberia presidential race
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Liberia’s President George Weah and opposition leader Joseph Boakai are nearly tied in the race for the presidency following a Oct. 10 election, provisional results published by the West African nation’s election commission showed on Sunday.
Weah holds a slim lead at 43.80% of the vote, while Boakai has 43.54%, according to tallied results from 72.92% of polling places, the commission said.
To avoid a runoff, the winner must secure more than 50% of votes cast.
In the 2017 election, Mr. Weah, a former AC Milan star striker, secured victory in a run-off with 61.5% of the vote, while Mr. Boakai received 38.5%. Mr. Weah had previously won the first round with 38.4% of the vote, as opposed to Mr. Boakai’s 28.8%, indicating that Mr. Boakai is showing stronger performance in this election.
As of Sunday, Liberia’s elections commission had tabulated results from 4,295 out of the 5,890 polling stations. The commission is allotted a 15-day period from the election date to announce the final results. In the absence of a clear winner, a run-off will take place on November 7.
Over 2.4 million Liberians, many of whom are first-time voters born after the civil wars between 1989 and 2003, registered to vote for the president, members of the House of Representatives, and half of the Senate. Reports from local and regional election observers indicated peaceful elections and a high voter turnout throughout the country, although some polling stations experienced delays.
Despite the delayed release of results, the West African regional bloc Ecowas, of which Liberia is a member, has urged Liberians to “maintain patience while waiting for official provisional results.”
