As a result of the close race between President George Weah and his primary challenger, Joseph Boakai, a second round of voting will be held the following month in Liberia.
Mr. Boakai, a former vice president, received 43.44% of the vote, while Mr. Weah received 43.83% of the vote.
Since the end of a civil war in Liberia around twenty years ago, the election for president that took place on October 10 was the closest one ever.
It was anticipated that there would be a runoff election, but Mr. Boakai, who is 78 years old, has performed better than anticipated by coming so close to Mr. Weah’s total.
Liberia’s presidential race goes to run-off
Because no candidate obtained more than half of the vote in the first round, there will be a runoff election in the second round. After the announcement of the final results, the chairman of the electoral commission, Davidetta Browne, stated that the date of the run-off election would be November 14th.
In the first round of voting for the election in 2017, Mr. Boakai finished far behind Mr. Weah, and he was ultimately unsuccessful in the run-off election.
He ran for office with the motto “Rescue” and accused Mr. Weah, a 57-year-old former international football star, of having a negative impact on Liberia during his first time in office.
The president refuted Mr. Boakai’s accusations by claiming that his administration had made significant advancements, including offering free tuition to university students.
Mr. Boakai pleaded with his fellow opposition candidates to join the “rescue team for a resounding victory” during a press conference that took place one week ago.
“We are reaching out to our brothers and sisters in the opposition as well as Liberians in general to ask them to join us in this noble mission of making our country breathe freely once again.”
In the administration of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who assumed the presidency after a bloody civil war ended almost twenty years ago, Mr. Boakai served as vice president.
He promised that if he was elected president, he would establish a “government of inclusion that truly reflects the political, social, and religious diversity of the citizens.” If he was successful, he would become president.
None of the 18 other candidates garnered more than 3% of the vote.