Liberia's election body declares Weah president with 61.5% of votes

30 Décembre 2017

Monrovia, Liberia, December 30 (Infosplusgabon) - The National Elections Commission (NEC) on Friday declared ex-football star George Weah as President of Liberia after announcing the final batch of results from the 26 December presidential runoff poll.

Weah ran against incumbent Vice President Joseph Boakai after the two emerged first and second respectively in the first round on 10 October in a race that saw 20 candidates chase the presidency of the West African nation.

The president-elect will have as his Vice President, Madam Jewel Howard-Taylor, ex-wife of convicted former Liberian president Charles Taylor, now serving prison term in the U.K. for war crimes committed in Sierra Leone.

“With the power vested in the National Elections Commission, I hereby declare the presidential ticket of George Weah and Jewel Howard-Taylor as winner of the 26 December (run-off) election,” said NEC Chairman Jerome Korkoyah.

He said of the total vote of 1.2 million, Weah got 732,185 votes, representing 61.5 percent, while Boakai got 465,539 or 38.5 percent and invalid votes amounted to 28,000.

The second round results are in vast contrast from the first where 1.6 million persons of the 2.1 million voters registered actually voted, and there were about 88,000 invalid votes.

Korkoyah thanked the government of Liberia and partners for their support in ensuring a successful election in the country.

Weah will take over from President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first female democratically-elected president, in what will be billed Liberia’s first handover of power from one elected government to another in about 73 years.

President-elect Weah has succeeded in his second bid for the Liberian presidency, the first being in 2005, when he won the first round but lost in the second round.

He attempted in 2011 but as a vice presidential candidate to ex-UN top diplomat Winston Tubman, who withdrew from the second round, leaving President Sirleaf to win her second term as president.

Meanwhile, the Liberian capital and other parts of the country have been in a festive mood since Thursday when the first results were announced by the NEC.

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/OPM/GABON 2017

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