Liberia President and Main Rival Face Run-Off Vote in Presidential Poll
A run-off election will be held next month in Liberia following a photo finish between President George Weah and his main rival Joseph Boakai.
Mr. Weah got 43.83% of the vote and Mr. Boakai, a former vice-president, received 43.44%.
The 10th October poll was the tightest presidential contest in Liberia since a civil war ended about two decades ago.
A run-off was predicted, but Mr. Boakai, 78, has done better than expected by coming close to Mr. Weah’s tally.
A second round was triggered as neither candidate received more than 50% of the vote in the first round.
The run-off is due to take place on 14 November, the head of the Electoral Commission Davidetta Browne said after announcing the final results.
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She said there was a record turnout of 78.86% of around 2.4 million registered voters.
The Oct. 10 election has been widely seen as a test of support for former soccer star Weah, 57, who was criticised in his first term by the opposition and Liberia’s international partners for not doing enough to tackle corruption.
On his campaign trail, he asked voters for more time to fulfil his promise to rebuild the nation’s broken economy, institutions and infrastructure, pledging to pave more roads if reelected.
Liberia is struggling to recover from two civil wars that killed more than 250,000 people between 1989 and 2003 and from a 2013-16 Ebola epidemic that killed thousands.
Boakai, 78, was Weah’s main challenger and campaigned on what he called the need to rescue Liberia from alleged mismanagement by Weah’s administration.
