The Liberian electoral commission had on Tuesday, October 24 scheduled a presidential election run-off for November after the electoral results revealed that the two frontrunners, President George Weah and opposition leader Joseph Boakai, had failed to garner enough votes.
The West African nation’s election commission had revealed that Weah was slightly leading with 43.83% of the vote, while Boakai has 43.44%, according to total results from 100% of polling places.
The Commission chairperson, Davidetta Browne Lansanah had said that the run-off vote would be held on November 14.
Additionally, she revealed that there was a record turnout of 78.86% of around 2.4 million registered voters.
The October 10 election was generally seen as a test of support for former soccer star Weah, aged 57, who was critiqued in his first term by the opposition for not doing enough to fight corruption.
On Weah’s campaign trail, he asked voters for more time to actualise his pledge to rebuild the nation’s poor economy, institutions and infrastructure, promising to pave more roads if reelected.
Boakai, aged 78, is Weah’s main challenger and had campaigned on what he has called the need to rescue Liberia from reported mismanagement by Weah’s administration.
Liberia is presently struggling to recover from the two civil wars that killed over 250,000 people between 1989 and 2003 and also from a 2013-16 Ebola epidemic that killed thousands.
