Former Vice President Joseph N. Boakai has taken an early lead in the preliminary results of the November 14 presidential run-off election being announced by the National Elections Commission (NEC).
On Wednesday, November 15, 2023, the NEC began the announcement of preliminary results from the just-ended run-off election between the Unity Party (UP) and the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), announcing 22.33% of the total result, constituting 1,315 of the 5,890 polling places across the country.
Of the total number announced by the NEC, Ambassador Boakai obtained 193,041 (50.71%) while incumbent President George Manneh Weah of the CDC obtained 187,615 (49.29%). However, the number announced by the NEC on Wednesday was without the number from Grand Kru County, a stronghold of the CDC.
As it stands, the UP leads in seven counties: Lofa, Nimba, Gbarpolu, Grand Cape Mount, Bomi, Montserrado and Margibi. Also, the CDC leads in seven counties: Bong, Grand Bassa, Rivercess, Sinoe, Grand Gedeh, River Gee and Maryland. When Grand Kru is tallied, it is expected that the CDC will secure the eighth county.
Political pundits have observed that the trend of voting in the run-off is similar to that of the first round, making the election very edgy and difficult to project a winner. According to them, the “margin” factor could become the determinant of the winner and not necessarily any specific county. For example, they said, if the CDC continues to close the gap in Lofa and Nimba, and maintain low margins in other UP strongholds while winning all the counties it won in the first round, President Weah could attain a second term. But in the case where UP makes a U-turn in either Bassa or Bong and maintain all its counties, Weah can kiss the presidency goodbye.
Dissecting the first preliminary results announced by the NEC on Wednesday, the political analysts say insofar the numbers from Nimba, Lofa and Margibi seem good for the Unity Party, they should be conscious of the numbers the CDC is accumulating from there, especially so when the numbers from the southeast appears cataclysmic for them.
However, they argue that the UP, on the other hand, could be resuscitated by Montserrado County—if the endorsements from the All Liberian Coalition Party (ALCOP) and the Grassroot Democratic Movement (GDM) made any impact, as they led the county with less than 3,000 votes in the first round of the election. They noted that Montserrado has the largest voting population, and if the UP can secure at least 5% margin now it could close the gaps in many of the southeastern counties and put them in a comfortable lead to victory.
The NEC will on today continue its announcement of preliminary results at its headquarters on 9th Street, Sinkor, by 4:30 p.m. The election body has been hailed by many political and security experts for what they termed as reducing the tension in the country with the way the results are being announced in bit and pieces. They say because no one can claim victory or defeat with the numbers announced yesterday, the supporters of the two parties are still hopeful, and that this is good for the peace and stability of the country.
However, they said if the NEC had announced majority of the results, the streets of Monrovia would have been flooded with protesters who may have claimed that the NEC cheated in favor of the winner.