2023-10-25 03:51:00
The president of Liberia, George Weah, received the most votes in the country’s elections, but should go to a second round on November 14 against the main opposition candidate, Joseph Boakai.
The Liberian electoral commission indicated that the former soccer player Weah, candidate of the Coalition for Democratic Change, obtained 43.83% of the votes, while Boakai, of the Unity Party, added 43.44% of the ballots, a difference of just over 7,000 votes.
None of the other candidates – nearly twenty – exceeded 3% of support, the Europa Press agency reported.
Since none of the candidates received more than 50 percent of the votes on Tuesday 10, Weah and Boakai will have to meet again at the polls, just like in 2017, when the now opponent lost by a wide margin.
Weah, who aspires to a second term at the head of the African country, focused his campaign on the need to have “more time” to be able to materialize his commitments, while Boakai, vice president 2006-2018, opted to strengthen the fight against corruption and accused his rival of taking the country “downhill.”
Liberia election results: George Weah and Joseph Boakai face run-off vote https://t.co/fjn4Pp46OL
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) October 24, 2023
Since the return of democracy to the African country in 2005, all elections went to a second round due to the fragmented nature of the political spectrum and the need to forge alliances.
More than 2.4 million voters were authorized to vote and also elect deputies and senators.
Liberia, an English-speaking country that was a colony of the United States in the 19th century to which freed slaves were sent, aspires to development and peace after years marked by war and epidemics.
These elections were the first organized without the presence of the United Nations peace mission.
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