Liberians began voting early on Tuesday morning, November 14, in a runoff election between President George Weah and the former vice president Joseph Boakai. Recall that they had been neck-and-neck in the first round of voting but below the 50% needed to clinch an outright victory.
Ex-soccer star Weah had won 43.83% of the vote, against Boakai’s 43.44% – a very tiny margin that has raised hopes of a closely fought second round.
Queues of people at five polling stations in the capital city, Monrovia had been spotted as at 9:00am according to reports by a Reuters journalist.
Incumbent President, Weah has asked voters for a second-term in office so he can make good on his first-term promises to root out corruption and better the livelihoods of citizens.
The West African country is still suffering the fallout from two civil wars between 1989 and 2003, and the 2013-2016 Ebola epidemic that sae thousands of people die.
Boakai, on his part has campaigned on the need to save the nation from what he calls “mismanagement” by Weah’s government, which has been plagued by graft scandals.
Both contenders, Weah and Boakai have received endorsements from candidates who lost in the first round.
A vital point will be who the 6% of voters whose ballots were invalidated in the first round benefit in the run-off.
Although it was mostly peaceful, the electoral period saw a few clashes between rival factions, and any reported irregularities in the second round could potentially lead to unrest in the country.
