It is believed that what comes easy is hardly treasured. Musician Bongos Ikwue paraphrased the same issue when he sang in his popular number, Searching for Mr. Right, that Nothing good comes easy. That is exactly what the two top presidential contenders in Liberia, ex-soccer star, George Weah, and incumbent Vice President Joseph Boakai, are about to find out.
With over 95 percent of votes counted in the October 10 polls in the West African country, the Electoral Commission said Mr. Weah won 39.0 percent of the votes while Mr. Boakaiwon 29.1 percent. Neither of them has near the 50 percent required to win the presidency outright after the first round of voting.
Voters cast their ballots on Tuesday, last week, in order to mark the West African nation’s first smooth transition of power from one democratically elected leadership to another in more than 70 years. The country’s 2.1 million registered voters filed out to choose the successor to Nobel Peace laureate, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first female elected head of state, who is stepping down after serving two six-year terms, as mandated by Liberia’s constitution.
Mrs. Sirleaf has led Liberia through a period of peace in the aftermath of a 14-year civil war that ended in 2003. But the country remains plagued by corruption and is still trying to recover from the Ebola crisis that killed 5,000 people in 2014 and 2015.
According to Article 83(b) of the Liberian Constitution, a runoff election is to be held within two weeks following the complete announcement of the results of the ballots cast in the first round of the presidential election. The law allows the electoral agency up till the 25th of this month to announce the final results of the first round of voting and the date for the run-off.
The campaign period for the possible run-off election shall commence on the day following the announcement of the final results, but the Commission may announce the results earlier and the campaign shall end 24 hours before Election Day. Campaign guidelines issued by the Commission for the October 10 elections would remain in effect; parties and their supporters must campaign in compliance with these guidelines and regulations.
