Liberia’s President Concedes Election Defeat in a Knife-Edge Vote
New York TimesNov 30, 2023
Liberia: Joseph Boakai Declared President-elect
Image copyright: Brittany Danisch/Flickr [via Wikimedia Commons]
The Facts
Liberia's National Electoral Commission has declared that opposition Unity Party candidate and former vice president Joseph Boakai has defeated incumbent George Weah in the presidential run-off.
With all ballots counted in the tightly contested Nov. 14 election, Boakai had received 814,481 votes (50.64%), while Weah got 793,914 (49.36%). Turnout in the presidential run-off was 66.12% of total registered voters.
The Spin
Narrative A
The greatest victor of this presidential election is undoubtedly Liberia's democracy — still in its infancy — and its institutions, especially considering that peaceful transitions of power have been relatively rare in West Africa. Boakai has won the popular vote and will become the next president of the country, thereby proving doomsayers who claimed Liberia would eventually collapse again after the 14-year civil war, resoundingly wrong.
Narrative B
Though Weah has conceded defeat to Boakai, his commitment to democratic values is, at the very least, questionable, as he has urged the president-elect not to pursue officials from his administration on corruption charges. Whether Boakai will fulfill his campaign promises to tackle corruption from day one or succeed in protecting the political establishment to keep the peace, is yet to be seen.