Liberian politics hot up

2005-10-21 21:44

Monrovia - The two frontrunners after final vote tallies from the October 11 Liberian presidential elections are the former football star George Manneh Weah and Harvard-educated economist Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.

With neither candidate reaching the required 50% hurdle in the vote, the two will face each other in runoff elections on November 8, with the winner decided by a simple majority.

The National Elections Commission said Weah finished with 275 265 votes or 28.3% of the total 1 012 673 votes cast.

Johnson- Sirleaf won 192 326 votes or 19.8%.

Turnout was 74.9%, while about 50 000 ballots were invalid.

No party won a majority in the two-tier legislature either.

In the elections for the 30-seat Senate, the Coalition for the Transformation of Liberia, a grouping of four parties, won seven seats while exiled former president Charles Taylor's National Patriotic party garnered four seats.

Johnson-Sirleaf's Unity party and Weah's Congress for Democratic Change won three seats each, while the National Democratic party of Liberia won two.

The Alliance for Peace and Democracy and the Liberty party won three seats each in the Senate.

Independent candidates won three seats while the National Reformation Party and the All Liberian Coalition Party of former warlord Alhaji Kromah got one seat each.

- SAPA