Ex-Ghanaian leader hails Liberia's presidential runoff polls

29 Décembre 2017

Monrovia, Liberia, December 29 (Infosplusgabon) - Ghana’s former President John Mahama, who headed the ECOWAS Election Observation Mission to Liberia, has congratulated Liberians for the successful 26 December presidential runoff vote.

He urged them to sustain the level of enthusiasm for national reconstruction and consolidation of democracy in the country, according to a statement issued by the mission.

“Liberians have made themselves and the ECOWAS region proud and with the election fever now over, every Liberian should see the task of nation building and development as a collective patriotic responsibility,” the Head of Mission said in Monrovia on Friday.

While assuring that ECOWAS would continue to stand by Liberia and its people, Mahama also called on the international community to provide the country with more support.

The Ghanaian statesman and his team attended the conference where the National Elections Commission (NEC) of Liberia on Thursday announced provisional results of the election, giving candidate George Weah 61.5% of the vote and his rival, the out-going Vice President Joseph Boakai, 38.5% with 98.1% of the ballot tally processed.

He urged the candidates to be magnanimous in victory and gracious in accepting the will of the Liberian people.

“Election is a process, which precedes the much higher task of governance that requires the positive contribution of all political actors and stakeholders,” said the former President, who also headed the Mission to the first round vote on 10 October.

In its Preliminary Declaration on 27 December, the ECOWAS Mission expressed its satisfaction with the peaceful conduct of the run-off vote, noting that the process up to the counting of ballots was also transparent and credible.

The Mission congratulated NEC for its professionalism and the measures it had in place with the support of an ECOWAS Technical Team, to improve the electoral process.

An ECOWAS Commission delegation, which provided support to the Mahama-led Observation Mission, was led by the Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Mrs Halima Ahmed, and also included the ECOWAS Special Representative to Liberia, Ambassador Babatunde Ajisomo, and the Director of Political Affairs, Dr Remi Ajibewa.

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/OOI/GABON 2017

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