Polls close in Liberia’s tightly contested presidential run-off

The incumbent, former footballer George Weah, faces off against political veteran Joseph Boakai. Polls have closed in Liberia’s presidential run-off, in which voters chose whether to hand former football star George Weah a second term in office or elect political veteran Joseph Boakai. This was Liberia’s fourth post-war presidential election, and the first one without the presence of a United Nations mission that previously had provided support to the National Elections Commission. The head of the Economic Community of West African States Election Observation Mission to Liberia, Attahiru Jega, praised the “calm and order prevailing in the various voting centres visited” around Monrovia. Liberia’s economy grew 4.8 percent in 2022, driven by gold production and a relatively good harvest, but more than 80 percent of the population still faces moderate or severe problems getting enough to eat, the World Bank said in July.