Posted by From Moses Jolayemi in Monrovia on
Harvard-trained economist and former finance minister, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has taken an early lead in Liberia's presidential election, polling 56.4 per cent of the total votes so far counted while her rival, former footbal star, George Weah scored 43.6 per cent.
Harvard-trained economist and former finance minister, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has taken an early lead in Liberia's presidential election, polling 56.4 per cent of the total votes so far counted while her rival, former footbal star, George Weah scored 43.6 per cent.
Addressing a press conference last night, the National Election Commission (NEC) Chairwoman, Francis Joh-nson-Morris announced that out of a total of 532,815 votes, Johnson-Sirleaf got 293,363 votes. Weah also got 227,224 votes.
The votes, she said, are from 1,813 polling stations out of a total of 3,070 polling stations across the country.
But Weah, the former AC Milan star, has criticised the electoral body alleging the run-off was fraudulent.
His party, the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) called for Johnson-Morris' resignation, accusing her of bias.
Reacting to Weah's allegation during a question and answer session, Johnson-Morris said "They don't have the right to tell me to resign. According to her, CDC has not made its complaints known to her about the election.
What the law says, according to Johnson-Morris, is that any complaints about the conduct of the election must be made within 72 hours to the electoral commission.
The final result is expected to be officially announced on November 22, two weeks after the election according to that country's electoral law.But as things stand, the entire results may be ready in a matter of days. The election and the counting process appear less cumbersome than the previous one held last month.
The head of the UN mission in Liberia, Allan Doss has declared the vote "free and transparent".
But according to Weah "The world is saying this election was free and fair, which was not true."
He said that the tone of the election, which international observers had said was broadly free and fair, was deteriorating.
Speaking with THISDAY Tuesday, Johnson-Sirleaf had said that Wea's supporters had made up their minds not to accept the outcome of the election if it did not favour their candidate.
An official of Weah's party, Charles Coleman said yesterday "This entire process was carried out unfairly. The NEC should stop the results," Johnson-Morris however praised the polls and urged the candidates to accept the results.
Meanwhile, Liberians were yesterday glued to their radios, listening to initial preliminary results from individual polling stations being announced on the radio.
With much of the country's infrastructure destroyed during the war, final results could take several days to come in from remote areas