THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
Liberia’s National Elections Commission (NEC) on Thursday released the full results of the 10 October general election. The body further confirmed a run-off vote between the two top candidates for the presidency, which it has set for 7 November.
Ex-football star George Weah of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) will face current vice-president, Joseph Boakai of the ruling Unity Party (UP), in a race to succeed President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
Sirleaf won elections in 2006 to become the continent’s first democratically elected female leader. She won a second term in 2011. She will hand over to the winner of the run-off – the second president after the end of the 2003 civil war.
NEC beat the official deadline for the announcement of final results by six clear days. It had till 25 October to announce full results as per the electoral law.
After collating results from the 5390 polling places across the country, the following results and facts were ascertained:
Weah, George Manneh of CDC polled 596,037 votes (38.4%)
Boakai, Joseph Nyuma of UP polled 446,716 votes (28.8%)
Brumskine, Cahles Walker of LP polled 149,495 votes (9.6%)
Johnson, Prince Y. of MDR polled 127,666 votes (8.2%)
Cummings, Alexander B. of ANC polled 112,067 votes (7.2%)
Urey, Benoni Wilfred of ALP polled 24,246 votes (1.6%)
The 14 other contenders each got less than one per cent of the total valid votes cast. NEC gave the voter turnout as 1,641,922 voters representing 75.2%.
The need for a second round is because none of the candidates got 50%+1 required. It is the third straight second round scenario. It is Weah’s second run-off from a winning position.
He won the 2005 vote but lost the run-off to incumbent Johnson Sirleaf. Already merger talks have been established by both camps as they move to consolidate efforts towards 7 November.
The polls roundly received good reviews from observer bodies from the ECOWAS, the African Union, the European Union and United Nations.
Adira Kallo
