Liberia’s presidential election run off fixed for November

Liberia’s National Election Commission has fixed November 2023 for the run-off of the presidential election.

This comes after all 20 candidates failed to win above 50% of the total votes cast in the first phase of the election.

George Weah, the incumbent president and candidate for the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), and Joseph Boakai, the former vice president and candidate for the Unity Party (UP) obtained the most votes in the first phase.

Mr Weah received 43.83% of votes cast, while Mr Boakai got 43.44% of the total vote.

Also, the commission declared that the political campaigns for the run-off would resume from October 24 to November 12, 2023.

The development is a repeat of history, with the last presidential election in the West African country held in 2017 ending in a run-off between Messrs Weah and Boakai.

But Mr Weah eventually won the race after polling 61.5% of the votes cast in the runoff, with Mr Boakai trailing with 38.5% of the votes.

Mr Weah is seeking a second and final term as president in the 2023 election.

According to a press statement by the NEC Chairperson, Davidetta Lansanah, the election on October 10 is unprecedented in Liberia’s modern democratic election history and it is due, in part, to the commission’s successful transition from the Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) system of voter registration to the use of biometric technology for the registration of voters.

According to the commission’s record, 1.9 million voters constituting 79% of the 2.4 million registered voters showed up to vote.