Weah and Boakai to face off in Liberia presidential runoff
Former international Liberian football star turned politician, and presidential election candidate George Weah casts his vote for Liberia's presidential and legislatives elections, at a polling station in Monrovia on October 10, 2017. Weah and incumbent Vice-President Joseph Boakai will face off in a run-off. PHOTO | ISSOUF SANOGO | AFP
What you need to know:
With the vote counts in from 95.6 per cent of the polling stations, Weah has taken 39.0 percent of the votes and Boakai 29.1 per cent.
National Elections Commission chairman Jerome Korkoya told journalists that 1,550,923 votes had been counted and turnout was at 74.52 per cent.
MONROVIA
Former international footballer George Weah and Liberia's Vice President Joseph Boakai will face a runoff for the presidency on November 7, the national election commission announced Sunday.
With tallies in from 95.6 per cent of polling stations, Weah took 39.0 per cent of the votes and Boakai 29.1 per cent, both well short of the 50 per cent barrier required to win outright from the first round of voting held on Tuesday.
National Elections Commission chairman Jerome Korkoya told journalists that 1,550,923 votes had been counted and turnout was at 74.52 per cent.
Three other candidates took a significant share of votes with veteran opposition leader Charles Brumskine at 9.8 per cent, former Coca-Cola Executive Alexander Cummings at 7.1 per cent and former warlord turned preacher Prince Johnson at 7.0 per cent.
These candidates will now decide which runoff contender they will direct their supporters to follow, holding significant sway over the final results.
