Former international football star George Weah, 51, and Vice-President Joseph Boakai, 73, held commanding leads in provisional presidential election results announced yesterday in Liberia.
Weah, a former world, African and European footballer of the year, received 39.2% of nearly 1.2 million ballots cast in nearly three-quarters of polling places, leading Boakai who had 29.6% of the vote, the commission said. Charles Brumskine, a lawyer, was a distant third with 9.7%.
A candidate needs more than 50% of the votes for outright victory If no-one achieves that, a second round will be held in November, which is increasingly looking likely between the two leading contenders.
The final certified results from last Tuesday’s poll must be announced by October 25, although provisional results from the remaining precincts are expected in the coming days.
Liberia’s NEC Chairman Jerome Korkoya had earlier hit out at false reports announcing an outright win for Weah and said his officials were doing their best to get accurate official results out as quickly as possible.
“This commission has not declared any winner,” he stressed.
International election observers said they had not identified any major problems with Tuesday’s voting even though leading parties’ members allege irregularities.