Liberia’s long and tortuous presidential election ended on a clean and peaceful note last week with the victory of former international football star George Weah. After ballots were counted from the December 26 run-off vote, Weah garnered more than 60% of the vote to defeat his rival, Vice President Joseph Boakai. He will take over from current President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected female president whose 12 year tenure ends later this month. It will be Liberia’s first democratic handover of power in decades.
Last week’s run-off election was also described by domestic and foreign election observers as free and fair and a marked improvement over the first round held in October. More than two million people were eligible to cast their ballots in the nation of 4.6 million people. Turnout was put at 56%. The run-off election had earlier been scheduled for November 7 but was delayed following a legal challenge brought by a representative for the opposition Liberty Party, Charles Brumskine. Weah, who is 51, won the first round of the presidential election with 38.4% of the vote, compared to 28.8% won by Boakai, who is 73. The run off became necessary because no candidate won an outright majority of the vote. The National Elections Commission (NEC) said on Thursday last week that with 98.1% of the run-off vote counted, Mr Weah had won 61.5% of the vote while Mr Boakai was far behind with 38.5%.
As soon as his victory was confirmed, Weah said, “My fellow Liberians, I deeply feel the emotion of all the nation. I measure the importance and the responsibility of the immense task which I embrace today. Change is on.” In yet another good sign, Boakai conceded victory and phoned Weah to congratulate him. George Weah is Africa’s newest chief of state but he is much better known around the world as a great and dazzling footballer. He is the only African ever to be declared FIFA’s World Player of the Year in 1996 as well as winner of the Ballon D’Or.
George Tawlon Manneh Oppong Ousman Weah was born in Clara slum of Monrovia, Liberia’s capital on October 1, 1966. He belongs to the Kru ethnic group of Grand Kru County in south eastern Liberia, regarded as the country’s poorest region. He attended Muslim Congress middle school and Wells Hairston High School but he dropped out in his final year. In recent years however Weah returned to his studies and earned first and second degrees. He began playing football at the age of 15, played for several local teams before he spent 14 years playing for clubs in France, Italy, and England. He played for Monaco in 1988 and later played for Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan, Chelsea and Manchester City as well as Marseille and Al Jazeira. He was named the African Footballer of the Year in 1989, 1994 and 1995 and in 1996, he was named African Player of the Century. In 2004, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world’s greatest living players.
Weah first contested for the presidency in 2005 but was defeated by Mrs Sirleaf in the run-off election. This year he run under the flag of Coalition for Democratic Change and he attracted the youth vote. He however picked as his running mate Mrs Jewel Taylor, wife of the ex-warlord Charles Taylor who is currently serving 50 years in jail at The Hague. Liberia made great progress in consolidating its peace after the brutal years of the Samuel Doe and Charles Taylor dictatorships, war and mass murder. However, it still has a long way to go because of widespread poverty and poor infrastructure. The Ebola epidemic of three years ago compounded its problems but it is now generally on the rebound. It is therefore up to George Weah to rule his country wisely and prudently and to show as much ability and dexterity in governance as he once showed on the football pitch.
