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Counting under way in Liberia presidential run-off
MONROVIA, Dec 27, 2017 (BSS/AFP) – Vote counting was under way in Liberia
on Wednesday following a peaceful run-off election for a new president,
pitting former international footballer George Weah against Vice-President
Joseph Boakai.
Voters were choosing a successor to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who is
stepping down after 12 years as Africa’s first elected female head of state.
Results of Tuesday’s vote are expected in a few days, in what would be the
West African country’s first democratic transition since 1944, according to
electoral officials.
The ballot was delayed for seven weeks due to legal challenges lodged by
Boakai’s Unity Party against the electoral commission over the conduct of the
first round of voting, but many of the complaints appeared to have been
addressed in the second round.
The Liberia Elections Observation Network, which had more than 1,000
observers stationed across the country, hailed a vote it said had passed
calmly with better organisation than the first poll on October 10, as did
observers from the European Union.
Former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, who served as an electoral
observer for the US-based National Democratic Institute (NDI), said a
successful resolution to the process was of particular importance within the
international community.
“This transition is critical and if we succeed, if Liberia succeeds, West
Africa succeeded and Africa succeeded,” he said.
“There has been no major incident to report of a technical nature and the
voting was peaceful,” noted electoral commission chief Francis Korkoya.
But with the vote held the day after Christmas, some national and
international observers warned that turnout may have been affected.
As Liberia’s most famous son, Weah attracts huge crowds and has a faithful
youth following in a country where a fifth of the electorate is aged between
18 and 22. But he has been criticised for his performance in the Senate,
where he has served since 2014.
MORE/MR/ 1036hrs
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Weah, 51, starred in top-flight European football teams Paris Saint-Germain
and AC Milan in the 1990s before playing briefly for Chelsea and Manchester
City later in his career.
His rival, Boakai, 73, is seen as a continuity candidate and has won praise
for his years of public service and image as a corruption-free family man,
while fending off allegations he failed to tackle poverty while in
government.
– From pitch to palace? –
Weah topped the first round of voting with 38.4 percent while Boakai came
second with 28.8 percent. That triggered a run-off as neither made it past
the 50 percent needed to win outright.
“I voted for George Weah because he is the one who will bring the change we
have been waiting for in this country,” declared supporter John Momoh after
casting his ballot on Tuesday.
Victoria Blamoh, 56, told AFP she voted for Boakai’s “experience of
leadership”, explaining: “He has been in government for 12 years, so he knows
the ins and outs of it.”
Whoever wins the election faces an economy battered by lower commodity
prices for its main exports of rubber and iron ore, and a rapidly
depreciating currency.
Sirleaf guided the nation out of ruin following back-to-back 1989-2003
civil wars and through the horrors of the 2014-16 Ebola crisis, but is
accused of failing to combat poverty and tackle corruption.
Living standards in Liberia remain among the worst in the world.
Weah has polled well in Bong county, the fiefdom of Liberian warlord and
former president Charles Taylor and his ex-wife, Jewel Howard-Taylor, who is
the former footballer’s vice-presidential pick, attracting controversy to his
campaign.
Charles Taylor is serving a 50-year sentence in Britain for war crimes
committed in neighbouring Sierra Leone, but his presence has loomed large
over the election.
– Previous fraud claims –
As counting got under way, the candidates were urged to keep supporters
calm to avoid the electoral violence that has hit Liberia in previous years.
Boakai has waged a bitter legal battle over problems with queue control and
voter identification in the October 10 first round, and said he would accept
the result provided the National Elections Commission (NEC) met “all of the
standards”.
Polling stations on Tuesday displayed voter lists as a mark of
transparency. The EU’s chief observer, Maria Arena, said staff were “better
trained” for the run-off.
Weah alleges that electoral fraud cost him the presidency in 2005 and the
vice-presidency in 2011.
His CDC party contested those results but has refrained so far this time,
though after voting on Tuesday Weah warned that “what happened in 2005 and
2011 cannot be repeated”.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1036hrs