West Africa
Runoff election decides the future head of state in Liberia
Incumbent George Weah has a razor-thin majority ahead of challenger Joseph Boakai. photo
© Christophe Ena/AP/dpa
Despite rich natural resources, Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world. A civil war casts a long shadow – the government led by an ex-football star is accused of corruption.
The electoral commission also announced that voter turnout reached a record of almost 79 percent of the more than 2.4 million registered voters. 20 candidates ran in the election on October 10th. According to the authority, around 10,000 national and international election observers were on duty. Nine election workers were arrested by the police because they were accused of violating the rules during the counting.
Corruption scandals overshadow election
There was already a runoff election in 2017 between Weah from the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) and Boakai from the Party for Unity (UP). At the time, Boakei entered the race as vice president of the outgoing president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. Weah won – and is now hoping for a second term in office. However, the government of the former football star, who played for top clubs such as Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan and Chelsea FC, has been linked to several corruption scandals.
Despite its rich natural resources, the coastal state on the Atlantic is one of the poorest countries in the world. In addition to economic problems, many Liberians are particularly concerned about corruption and the slow process of coming to terms with the crimes of the civil war. Between 1989 and 2003 around 250,000 people were killed. Most war criminals went unpunished.