By Ahmid Lawal Abuja
As Liberia’s National Electoral Commission (NEC) fixed today for the commencement of announcement of the result of the presidential run-off, the candidate of the opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), George Weah has expressed confidence he would win the election.
“The Liberian people clearly made their choice yesterday and altogether we are very confident in the result of the electoral process,” he said in a statement posted on his Facebook page yesterday.
Shortly after voting was concluded in Tuesday’s re run, the former football star had used the same platform to thank Liberians for voting for him, saying “It is with deep emotion that I want to thank you, the Liberian people for honouring me with your vote today. It is a great hope. “I am deeply grateful to my family, my friends, and my loyal supporters who contributed to our campaign during this extremely long election season. We are on the verge of making history for our people.”
Weah, 51, ran against the candidate of the ruling Unity Party (UP), Vice President Joseph Boakai, in the presidential re-run held on Tuesday. During the first round of voting, Weah scored the most votes with 38 per cent of the total votes cast while Boakai garnered 29.1 per cent.
Earlier on Tuesday, the UP had claimed early lead over the CDC. Mohammed Ali, a spokesperson for the ruling party, made the claim on a Facebook post even though tallying and counting of votes were still underway and the electoral body, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) was yet to announce the result of the poll.
According to the figures posted by Ali, which he said represented 30 per cent of votes from six of the country’s 15 counties, Boakai was ahead in four of the six counties whose provisional results he said had trickled in to his party. He claimed the candidate of the UP garnered 53.89 per cent of the votes in Bomi county against 46.11 per cent he said the CDC amassed.
Other results posted by the UP official are for
Gbarpolu County [Boakai (UP) – 57.17 per cent, Weah (CDC) – 42.83 per cent];
Grand Cape Mount County [Boakai (UP) – 47.34 per cent, Weah (CDC) – 52.66 per cent];
Lofa County [Boakai (UP) – 83.53 per cent, Weah (CDC) – 16.47 per cent];
Montserrado County [Boakai (UP) – 37.69 per cent, Weah (CDC) – 62.31 per cent];
and Nimba County [Boakai (UP) – 57.33 per cent, Weah (CDC) – 42.67 per cent].
