Liberia’s outgoing President George Weah admitted his defeat in Tuesday’s presidential election to his opponent Joseph Boakai in a speech on public radio on Friday evening, as the country awaits the release of overall voting results.
Published on: November 18, 2023 – 01:40
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“Tonight the CDC (Mr. Weah’s party) lost the election but Liberia won. It is time for elegance in victory,” said George Weah, a former football star who was elected in 2017, in a speech on public radio. “The results announced this evening, while not final, suggest that Boakai has a lead that we cannot catch up with. I spoke to President-elect Joseph Boakai to congratulate him on his victory,” Mr Weah said.
The results released by the Electoral Commission on Friday after votes in more than 99% of offices showed 50.89% for Joseph Boakai, 78, and 49.11% for Mr Weah. After counting around 1.6 million ballots, Joseph Boakai had a lead of just over 28,000 votes. About 2.4 million Liberians were called to vote on Tuesday, but so far there has been no evidence of turnout.
Dozens of Joseph Boakai’s supporters celebrated the results by dancing in front of one of his party offices in Monrovia’s Fiama district, the AFP correspondent noted.