Liberia’s leader Weah is facing a tight runoff vote for a second term against challenger Boakai

MONROVIA, Liberia — Liberian President George Weah faced a tight runoff election Tuesday as he seeks to defeat a repeat challenger and win a second term in the West African nation. The former international soccer star easily defeated Joseph Boakai in the 2017 runoff, but results from the first round of balloting last month showed the two neck and neck. It was the first democratic transfer of power in the West African nation since the end of the country’s back-to-back civil wars between 1989 and 2003 that killed some 250,000 people. “These runoff elections represent the final push to remove terror, lawlessness, corruption, indifference, neglect and incompetence that have plagued our country for six years,” he told Liberians in his final speech before the vote.