George Weah, President of Liberia, acknowledges his loss in the election to former Vice President Boakai

78-year-old Boakai was defeated handily by Weah, 57, in the 2017 second-round presidential contest.

Following a close presidential run-off, Liberian leader and football hero George Weah announced that it was “time to put national interest above personal interest” and conceded loss to opposition leader Joseph Boakai.

In Liberia, the oldest nation in Africa established by freed American slaves, Boakai was ahead with about 51 percent of the votes, according to the most recent and virtually full figures.

“The results that were revealed tonight, while not conclusive, suggest that… Weah stated in a late-Friday statement on national radio that Boakai has an advantage over us.

He declared, “This is the time for graciousness in defeat,” adding that his CDC party “has lost the election but Liberia has won.”

78-year-old Boakai was defeated handily by Weah, 57, in the 2017 second-round presidential contest.

According to the electoral commission, Boakai has received 50.89 percent of the votes cast following Tuesday’s second-round voting, with more than 99.5 percent of polling places providing vote counts.

The numbers released on Friday showed that Boakai had 28,000 more votes than Weah. Weah had a narrow nationwide lead of 7,126 votes over her opponent when they finished neck and neck in the first round last month.

The election of Weah, the first African football player to win the Ballon d’Or and FIFA’s World Player of the Year trophy, raised hopes for reform in Liberia, a country still recovering from two consecutive civil wars and the Ebola outbreak that struck in 2014–2016.

However, some have charged that he has broken a pledge to enhance the lives of the poorest people and that his government is corrupt.

“President-elect Boakai on his victory and President Weah for his peaceful acceptance of the results,” the United States said in a statement.

READ ALSO: Weah and Boakai engage in tight race for the presidency of Liberia as voting gets underway

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller issued a statement saying, “We call on all citizens to follow President Weah’s example and accept the results.”

“People from Liberia Have Spoken”
Boakai was spoken to, according to Weah, “to congratulate him on his victory.”

“The voice of the Liberian people has been heard. They have spoken.” But as Weah noted in his speech, “the closeness of the results reveals a deep division within our country.”

“Let’s put the campaign’s divisions behind us and unite as a single nation and people.”

Weah promised to “continue to work for the good of Liberia” while serving as president until the transfer of power in January.

In the last 20 years, this will be the second orderly transfer of power from one democratically elected administration to another.

The elections marked the first since the peacekeeping presence of the United Nations was terminated in 2018 following two civil wars in Liberia that claimed over 250,000 lives between 1989 and 2003.

The European Union and other international observers have applauded Liberia for conducting a peaceful election.

The Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, a regional organisation, reported that the election was “largely” calm but mentioned a few isolated events that resulted in “injuries and hospitalisations” in four provinces.

Before the first round, three people died in clashes throughout the campaign, which increased concerns about unrest following the election.

The electoral commission website states that 2.4 million Liberians were eligible to vote on Tuesday, and around 66 percent of them did so.

Boakai has experience in politics; from 2006 to 2018, she was vice president under Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first elected female head of state in Africa.

With a population of almost five million, Liberia is among the world’s poorest nations.

The World Bank estimates that over 25% of people survive on less than $2.15 a day.

AAFP