More Official Provisional Results To Follow Over The Next Days
Photo source: NEC Liberia results portal
By Staff Writer
The presidential candidate of the main opposition Unity Party and former Vice President Joseph Boakai has taken an early lead over incumbent President George Manneh Weah, according to initial preliminary results of the October 10, 2023 presidential elections announced by the National Elections Commission (NEC) on Wednesday.
At a news conference a day after the polls (October 11, 2023), NEC Chairperson Davidetta Browne Lansanah said the first result released came from several polling centers in just two of Liberia’s 15 counties—Montserrado and Bomi. Both counties are considered strongholds for Weah’s ruling CDC party.
The NEC Chair has warned political parties and candidates against declaring victory in the absence of official and final declaration of winners by the national elections management body, but some are defying the elections commission.
One case in point is the ruling party. The Secretary General of the ruling CDC, Monrovia City Mayor Jefferson Koijee on Wednesday, October 11 told the media that President Weah, while the party’s incumbent Representative for Montserrado County District # 8, Acarous Gray has said he has won back his seat, urging CDC supporters to begin celebrating their alleged victory.
Tuesday’s presidential and legislative elections passed off generally peacefully, despite a number of incidents of pre-elections violence.
Pre-elections violence in various parts of Liberia has raised tensions and sparked fears in some quarter, prompting numerous appeals to politicians and their supporters to prioritize the urgent need to ensure nonviolent elections.
Incumbent President and former international football icon-turned politician, Weah is making his second term bid and most of his rivals, especially UP’s Boakai and another opposition contender Alexander Cummings of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) have vowed to make the Liberian leader “a one-term President”. Weah is facing 19 other contenders.
The 2023 election is the fourth general election since Liberia’s second civil war officially ended in 2003.
