Counting continues in Liberia presidential run-off vote

Vote counting was underway in Liberia, the day after a presidential run-off between football legend George Weah and former vice-president Joseph Boakai.

Weah, who’s seeking a second term, failed to reach the 50 per cent required to secure an outright victory in the first round of voting in October.

The National Electoral Commission (NEC) late on Wednesday, announced partial results from 22.33 per cent of polling stations, giving the opposition leader a slight lead.

NEC president, Davidetta Browne Lansanah, said Boakai’s Unity Party had obtained 50.71 per cent of the vote so far, against Weah’s Congress for Democratic Change with 49.29 per cent.

It is the second time the two men have faced off against one another. Weah came to power in 2018 after beating Boakai.

Observers expect the result to be tight after the two candidates came roughly neck and neck in the first-round vote last month.

The electoral commission has 15 days from the polls to publish the results, but could do so sooner.

Liberia is still suffering the fallout from two civil wars between 1989 and 2003, and an Ebola epidemic that killed thousands

The elections are the first since the UN ended its peacekeeping mission in 2018.

Both national and foreign observers have followed the balloting and only a few minor incidents have so far been reported.

Africanews/Hauwa M.