Former Soccer star George Weah has been elected as its new president of Liberia following a run-off election.
Weah, 51, won the polls with 61.5% of votes and will be sworn in on
Jan. 16 2018 when president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s term expires.
The
event will be significant as it will be Liberia’s first democratic
transfer of power since 1944.
Weah’s victory at the polls comes after his third attempt having first
contested back in 2005 and again in 2011, as the vice-presidential
candidate under Winston Tubman.
Weah was up against Joseph Boakai,
Liberia’s vice-president since 2006. Boakai had also served as Liberia’s
minister of agriculture in the 1980s. Boakai, 73, campaigned on the
back of the incumbent government’s achievements and his superior
leadership.
But it failed to resonate with most of the electorate
however, with Weah winning in 14 of Liberia 15 counties. Weah’s
positioning and rhetoric as an outsider up against the Liberian
political establishment proved far more effective.
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