Liberians go to the polls as President Weah seeks reelection

A total of 2.4 million Liberians are eligible to vote in the general election taking place on Tuesday, in which President George Weah is running for re-election after serving the first six years.

Weah, 57, who entered politics following a successful football career, said he needs more time to carry out his vow to fix the nation of West Africa’s crumbling infrastructure, institutions and economy. If reelected, he promised to plough additional roads.

Weah is competing against 19 other presidential candidates after being elected in 2017 after the nation’s first democratic transfer of power in more than 70 years. The winner needs to receive 50% of the total votes cast, plus at least one additional vote, to avoid a runoff.

After a march through the city of Monrovia on Sunday night, Weah declared the end of his campaign and declared his first term to have been successful despite many difficulties.

The iron-ore-rich West African country is still battling to recover from two terrible civil wars that occurred between 1989 and 2003, killing over 250,000 people, and an Ebola epidemic that occurred from 2013 to 2016, which also claimed thousands of lives.

“I’m proud of the track record of accomplishment in a very trying time. We were able to accomplish a lot with fewer resources and resolve a lot of structural issues, Weah informed jubilant crowd members.

The opposition and Liberia’s international allies have criticised him for not doing enough to combat corruption during his first time in power.

After the United States punished them for corruption in 2022, he sacked his chief of staff and two other top officials.

READ ALSO: Osimhen is the first African to win the Golden Boot in Serie A

In his concluding statement, he emphasised other measures taken to combat corruption, like as the appointment of impartial members to the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission.

“We plan to increase efforts on our war against corruption in our second term,” he stated.

Former Vice President Joseph Boakai, 78, who he defeated in a runoff in 2017, is Weah’s top rival.

Boakai has focused his campaign on what he refers to as the need to save Liberia from what he claims is Weah’s administration’s mismanagement.

Additionally, voters will choose half of the 30 senators and the 73 members of the lower house.

Despite the largely peaceful election campaigning, some skirmishes between supporters of opposing parties have occurred, leading the United Nations rights office to express worry over election-related violence after two people were killed in September.

Several people were hurt on Sunday as the capital’s elections came to a close when fighting broke out between opposing supporters.
(Reuters/NAN)