BY Claire Mom
A tally of results in Liberia has shown that President George Weah could lose his bid for a second term.
After releasing nearly all the results from this week’s runoff election on Friday evening, the country’s National Elections Commission (NEC) said Joseph Boakai, opposition leader, gathered 50.89 percent of the votes, while Weah has 49.11 percent.
Supporters of the opposition leader have reportedly been shouting for President Weah, who has served one term, to go.
They were chanting “we beat the Buga dancer”, referring to a song that became associated with his campaign.
However, NEC said there would re-run in one county before a winner could be declared.
The run-off between both former allies was triggered after neither candidate got more than 50 percent of the vote in last month’s first round.
Boakai, 78, a former vice president who lost to Weah in the 2017 poll, had built his campaign on promises of rescuing the West African nation from what he described as mismanagement by Weah’s administration, whose first term was marred by allegations of corruption.
Amid the tense wait in the country for a winner to be declared, Boakai’s supporters trooped to the party’s headquarters in Monrovia, Liberia’s capital city, to celebrate the politician’s “win”.
But the joint security of Liberia has cautioned both Weah and Boakai’s parties against celebrations before the NEC announces the final results and declares a winner.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) election observation mission to Liberia, said the polls were “successful and peaceful”.
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