“The Liberian people have spoken, and we have heard their voice. However, the closeness of the results reveals a deep division within our country,” Weah said in his speech”
President George Weah of Liberia and football legend on Friday evening conceded defeat after nearly complete returns showed opposition leader Joseph Boakai leading with 50.89 percent of the vote.
The 78-year-old Boakai beat Weah by just over 28,000 votes.
Weah said he had spoken to Boakai “to congratulate him on his victory”.
“Ladies and gentlemen, tonight the CDC (party) has lost the election, but Liberia has won. This is the time for graciousness in defeat, to put national interest above personal interest,” Weah said in a speech on national radio.
Results published by the electoral commission after tallying the ballots from more than 99 per cent of polling stations gave Weah 49.11 per cent of the votes cast.
“The Liberian people have spoken, and we have heard their voice. However, the closeness of the results reveals a deep division within our country,” Weah said.
Around 2.4 million Liberians were eligible to vote on Tuesday, but no turnout figures have been released.
Dozens of Boakai’s supporters danced in celebration outside one of his party’s offices in the capital Monrovia.
The elections were the first since the United Nations 2018 ended its peacekeeping mission, created after more than 250,000 people died in two civil wars in Liberia between 1989 and 2003.
Persecondnews recalls that Mrs Ellen Johnson Sirleaf had served as the 24th President of Liberia from 2006 to 2018.
She was the first elected female President in Africa.
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