Prime News Ghana

Liberia Elections: George Weah in a comfortable lead, but run-off inevitable

By Clement Edward Kumsah
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Provisional results announced by the National Elections Commission (NEC) yesterday, has put Sen. George Manneh Weah of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) in a comfortable lead over his closest contender Joseph N. Boakai of the Unity Party (UP) by an eclectic margin of 31,150 votes.

What appears to be shocking is the fact that soccer legend Weah‘s CDC appears to be increasingly making headway in regions that were the utopia of the Boakai’s Unity Party.

Per the provisional results announced on Thursday, the total valid votes counted so far stands at 349,357, excluding the 22,021 (5.93%) invalid votes.

Of the 349,357 valid votes counted, CDC has garnered the lion share of 137,606 (39.39%). The arguably lagging Unity Party has also accrued 106,456 (30.47), while jointly the valid votes accumulated by the other 18 presidential candidates stand at 105,295 (30.14%).

In the event where the trend of valid votes continues as it has started, the leeway of a run-off might be practically inescapable.

However, in the case of a run-off, the battle between the two ‘political enemies’ would be for the 105,295 votes garnered by the other 18 candidates before the winner be it George Weah or Joseph N. Boakai can earn the title President-Elect of Liberia’

In the meantime, the outgoing President of Liberia, Ellen Sirleaf, 78, has hailed the election as a success.
"We believe that all Liberians are ready for this process. I thank them for participating in this process," she said.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf took office in 2006, after her predecessor, Charles Taylor, was forced out of office by rebels in 2003, ending a long civil war.

Taylor is currently serving a 50-year prison sentence in the UK for war crimes related to the conflict in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

Meanwhile, George Weah, 51, has chosen Charles Taylor's ex-wife Jewel Howard Taylor as his running mate.

 

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