The head of the Economic Community of West African States’ Election Observation Mission to Liberia, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has praised the “calm and order prevailing in the various voting centres visited” around Monrovia.
Polling closed on Tuesday evening in Liberia’s presidential run-off election, in which voters were choosing whether to hand former football star George Weah a second term in office, despite a mixed record, or elect political veteran Joseph Boakai.
At a polling station in a women and children’s centre in the coastal county of Margibi, voting ended shortly after 6:00 pm (1800 GMT). Ballot counting began several minutes later, AFP reports.
The electoral commission has 15 days to publish the results.
The ECOWAS commission said in a statement that Jega “stressed the need for a climate of peace, tolerance and consensus around the electoral process until its completion.”
The peaceful voting conduct was also commended by the former vice president of Zambia, Nevers Mumba, who now leads the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa.
He said the turnout appeared to be roughly two-thirds of the record 78.86 per cent of the first round, when the presidential vote was coupled with parliamentary elections.
“This election is going to decide the future of this country,” said Bestman Todawiah, 55, a school administrator voting in Monrovia.
“What I expect from this election is that (it) should be free, fair and transparent, and at the end of it, whoever wins becomes the president of this country.”
The run-off is expected to be close between the rivals, who also faced off in 2017.
“I’m in the race to win”, Boakai told AFP and other journalists outside his home near the capital Monrovia after casting his ballot.
He alleged that the ruling party was “panicking” and taking shortcuts including pre-marking ballots.
“We hear about all of that, but we are not afraid,” he said.
Speaking to the media after voting in the suburb of Paynesville, Weah called on Liberians to “exercise our franchise”.
“The place is calm, everybody is voting and there’s no tension – that is democracy,” the incumbent said – the only African to win football’s most prestigious individual award, the Ballon d’Or.
“I think the Liberian people will elect me,” he added, crediting his government’s “hard work”.
Turnout appeared lower than in the first round of voting on October 10, with shorter queues outside polling centres around Monrovia, an AFP journalist saw.
Voting was taking place peacefully and there were no reports of major incidents or violence.
Last month, Weah, 57, and Boakai, 78, came roughly neck and neck on more than 43 per cent, with the incumbent taking a 7,126-vote lead.
