MONROVIA (Reuters) -Liberian opposition leader Joseph Boakai is on course to become president, the West African country’s elections commission said on Friday, as the vote count neared completion.
Boakai was leading with 50.89% of the vote over President George Weah’s 49.11% according to tallied results from 99.6% of polling stations, the commission said.
Boakai and Weah emerged neck-and-neck from the first round of voting in October but below the 50% needed to secure an outright victory, leading to a run-off on Tuesday.
The election has been widely seen as a test of support for former soccer star Weah, 57, who was criticised in his first term by the opposition and Liberia’s international partners for not doing enough to tackle corruption.
Boakai, 78, who lost to Weah in the 2017 election, has campaigned on rescuing the nation from what he calls mismanagement by Weah’s administration.
(Reporting Carielle Doe and Alphonso Toweh; Writing by Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Louise Heavens and Jonathan Oatis)
