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Liberian Presidential Runoff Election In The Offing?

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As 6th Batch of Consolidated Progressive Tally Results Out: Weah, Boakai Yet To Get 50% Of The Votes So Far

By Our Staff Writer

With 92.82% of the total number of polling places tallied by the National Elections Commission (NEC), the top two presidential candidates in the October 10, 2023 elections have failed to reach the 50 percent plus one vote required to win the first round of balloting.

Announcing the consolidated progressive tally results of last Tuesday’s presidential elections this evening (Monday, October 16, 2023), the Chairperson of NEC, Davidetta Browne Lansanah, as at Monday evening, 5, 467 of the 5,890 polling places have been tallied.

Coming top is former Liberian Vice Joseph Boakai Joseph Boakai of the main opposition Unity Party (UP) with 748, 463 votes, constituting 43.70%, while incumbent President George Weah of the Coalition for Democratic Change ((CD) comes second with 747, 578 votes, amounting to 43.65%.

Following in third and fourth places are Edward Appleton of the Grassroots Democratic Party (GDM) and Lucinee Kamara of the All Liberian Coalition Party (ALCPO) with 2.16% and 2.00% respectively.

Results from the less than seven percent of polling places remaining are expected to be announced by NEC in the next few days.

Under Liberian elections law, the NEC has up to 15 days to declare winners and losers in general and presidential elections.

Since the official end of the Liberian civil conflict in 2003, all of the subsequent presidential elections from 2005 to 2017 have ended with runoff elections, because no candidate had been able to secure victory in the first round by getting 50% plus one vote.

In the October 10 polls, Weah is being challenged by 19 other presidential contenders. Already, one of the contenders, Cllr. Tiawan Gongloe of the opposition Liberia People’s Party (LPP) has conceded defeat.

Two of the presidential candidates are females—Sarah Beysolow Nyanti of the African Liberation League (ALL) and Bendu Kromah, INDEPENDENT.

This is the fourth general elections held in post-war Liberia since this West African state officially ended 14 years of civil war in 2003. There are 46 registered political parties with over 2.4 million registered voters.

President Weah, who has repeatedly boasted that he and his CDC will get a “one round victory”, is making his second term bid after being in power for nearly six years since defeating his main rival, former Vice President Boakai in the October 2017 election.

 

 

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