#LiberiaDecides2023: Voting ends in Liberia but long queues remain

 

Credit: Yiaga Twitter

Voting has official ended across all 5,890 polling centres in Liberia. Thousands of voters queued at dozens of polling stations across the country hours before polls opened at 8am local time.

The presidential elections is  keenly contested by former football star Geoge Weah who is seeking for a second term in office and former Deputy President Joseph Boakai.

Aside the two main contenders, 18 other candidates are in the race including two women who are hoping to outwit incumbent George Weah.

Several instances of delays were reported in polling centres with thousand of voters stranded in parts of the country. Eventhough the National Elections Commission (NEC Liberia) instituted priority voting to allow PWDs, pregnant women and the elderly to vote smoothly, this wasn’t adhered to in some centres visited by Uzabe NG who were on the ground.

To be declared as the winner of the presidential election, one needs to garner at least 50% plus one of the votes cast. Provided no candidate achieves this threshold, the two candidates with the most votes in the initial round will proceed to a runoff election scheduled for November.

Despite concerns of potential violence in the lead-up to the election, the election has been relatively calm  across various polling centres with no reports of violence recorded.

This  election marks the first since the United Nations ended its peacekeeping mission in Liberia in 2018, following two civil wars that claimed over 250,000 lives between 1989 and 2003.

Observer missions from the the European Union, African Union, ECOWAS, and the United States have all pitched camp in Liberia to monitor the voting process.

Meanwhile, NEC is expected by law to  declare the presidential results within a maximum of fifteen days after voting.

Corruption, economic challenges, standard of living are some of the key issues which will shape this year’s general elections in Liberia.

AEP

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