More than two million Liberians went to the polls last month to pick a new leader with president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf set to leave office. But the elections resulted in a run-off between former soccer star George Weah and current vice president Joseph Boakai. Neither candidate was able to garner the 50% majority of votes required to take office in the first round.
Liberia’s Supreme Court has postponed the country’s presidential run-off elections indefinitely due to allegations of fraud in the first round of voting. The court says the run-off will not hold until Liberia’s electoral commission has investigated the claims. The run-off was initially slated for Nov. 7.
The allegations of electoral fraud were made by Charles Brumskine, the presidential candidate who finished third in the first voting round.
Despite his illustrious soccer career (he’s the only African to win the Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards), Weah isn’t new to Liberian politics. Indeed, the run-off elections won’t be his first shot at the presidency. Back in 2005, Weah lost in a presidential runoff to Sirleaf despite winning more votes in the first round. He contested, and lost again, in 2011 as vice presidential candidate on the Winston Tubman ticket. In 2014, his political fortunes at the polls turned as he won a seat in the Senate.
Boakai, vice-president since 2006, will be hoping to counter Weah’s popularity with his political experience having also served as minister of agriculture in the 1980s. Boakai’s campaign has so far focused on amplifying the incumbent government’s achievement in economy and security.