The National Elections Commission (NEC) is set to announce the remaining nationwide results for the presidential, senatorial, and representative elections today, Tuesday, 24 October 2023.
During a press briefing held in Monrovia on Monday, 23 October 2023, Davidetta Browne-Lansanah of the NEC revealed that the election results from Nimba County Electoral District #4, Beo Lontuo, will also be announced.
This particular district had to re-run its election after ballot boxes were stolen during the first round of voting held on 10 October 2023.
The delay in announcing the nationwide results was due to the absence of the results from Nimba County Electoral District #4.
The official announcement will be made during the commission’s press briefing at the NEC Headquarters on 9th & 10th Street at 4:30pm.
Browne-Lansanah confirmed that the counting process has been completed following the re-run of the elections in Nimba County District #4.
She further stated that the collation of the results is currently ongoing at the NEC Headquarters.
As the final results are expected today, there is uncertainty surrounding whether either of Liberia’s two political rivals – the incumbent President George Manneh Weah and opposition Ambassador Joseph Nyumah Boakai – will secure a first-round victory as they had projected.
Both candidates are neck and neck in terms of the total votes counted so far, and the re-run ordered by the NEC in Nimba County last week does not offer any indications of preventing a run-off.
On 18 October 2023, NEC’s Browne-Lansanah announced that President Weah had received 803,674 votes, accounting for 43.84% of the total votes, while Mr. Boakai obtained 796,313 votes, representing 43.44%.
To be declared the winner, a presidential candidate must secure 50% plus one of the total valid votes.
If a run-off is declared by the NEC today, it would mark the second time Mr. Weah, from the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), and Ambassador Boakai, from the former ruling Unity Party (UP), would face each other in a presidential run-off.
The two men previously competed in a run-off in 2017, when Mr. Weah was an opposition candidate. Boakai, who faced challenges within his own party due to divisions between him and his former boss, then-President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, ultimately lost the election.
A total of 20 presidential candidates participated in the October 2023 polls. The National Presidential tally report released last week showed Mr. Weah leading by a narrow margin of 7,361 votes.
