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Liberia: Runoff Between Weah, Boakai Slated For November 7

October 16, 2017

Liberia held its presidential election on Tuesday, but no candidate secured 50 percent of the vote, which is required in order to win without a runoff.

Former soccer star George Weah will face Liberian Vice President Joseph Boakai in a runoff election on November 7.

Liberia held its presidential election on Tuesday, but no candidate secured 50 percent of the vote, which is required in order to win without a runoff.

Mr. Weah topped the poll with 39 percent of the vote while the vice president came in second with 29.1 percent. Twenty candidates contested for the presidency.

The Chairman of the National Elections Commission, Jerome Korkoya, said that 1,550,923 votes had been tallied, amounting to a turnout of 74.52 percent,

The winner of the November 7 contest will replace President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who has served two terms as Africa’s first woman head of state.

Before Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf took office in 2006, the small west African country was ruled by warlord Charles Taylor, who is serving a 50-year prison sentence for war crimes. He has thrown his support behind the former FIFA World Footballer of the Year, Mr. Weah.

Liberia has not had a peaceful transfer of power in 73 years.

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Elections