Liberia’s electoral commission says football star George Weah leads in early election results, with Vice-President Joseph Boakai ahead in his home region. Supporters of a third candidate allege irregularities.
Three days later, Liberians are still waiting for reliable resultsImage: Reuters/T. Gouegnon
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National Election Commission chairman Jerome Korkoya warned that early results of the presidential ballot, showing George Weah's Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) in the lead, only represented a small sample of the overall electorate comprising 15 counties.
Among the provisional results announced, the only county with more than 30 percent of votes counted - Bong county - showed Boakai and Weah virtually neck-and-neck, with Weah a sliver ahead.
Weah was also leading in Montserrado county, his stronghold, although just 14.8 percent of ballots had been counted.
The slow emergence of provisional results since Tuesday's poll has kept Liberia on edge, with third contender Charles Brumskine claiming that irregularities were "deeply troubling."
Brumskine's Liberty Party had earlier called for a halt to the announcement of partial results.
Impartiality, urges EU mission
Despite result delays, a European Union observer mission said the "overall conduct of the voting was generally assessed as either good or very good."
EU mission head Maria Arena urged Liberian authorities to handle potential complaints with the "utmost impartiality" in a tense environment.
Meanwhile, electoral commission spokesman Henry Boyd Flomo said the body was mandated to declare results in 15 days. "We've got no option but to live with that," Flomo said.
The campaign manager for Boakai, Mohammed Ali of the Unity Party, asserted that the vice-president was heading for a second-round run-off poll against Weah.
November 7 is the date likely for a run-off if no candidate wins 50 percent of the presidential vote among 20 candidates in the race.
Analysts cited by the news agency AFP said former Coca-Cola executive Alexander Cummings and his innovative campaign strategy appeared to have eaten into anticipated support for Weah and Boakai.
'Not satisfied'
Among reactions gathered by DW among voters, Joseph David Jr. said he heard "other people saying that CDC is going, United Party is going. From my observation, there will be a second round."
"I am not feeling satisfied with the result,” said Wanitta Glay. "I am with Brumskine. We know the kind of people we talked to and we know the kind of people we expected to vote for us. We know that they voted for us, but we are not getting the kind of vote that we expected."
Successor to Johnson Sirleaf
Voters were called to choose a successor to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who in 2005 became Africa's first elected female president as Liberia recovered from civil war and coped with an Ebola epidemic.
On local radio on Thursday, an official from Weah's CDC party, Mulbah Morlu, issued an invitation for a "pre-victory celebration" outside party headquarters.
In 2005, Weah, a former striker for French and Italian clubs, came second to Johnson Sirleaf.
Former international football star George Weah Image: Getty Images
Restraint, urges Carter Center
The Carter Center, an NGO founded by former US President Jimmy Carter that also observed Liberia's election, urged restraint and called for a "peaceful atmosphere."
Late Thursday, the Carter Center noted difficulties with management of voter lists and long queues, but said it could not give a final assessment until vote counting was complete.
"No matter the outcome of this election, it will result in a transfer of power from one democratically elected government to another for the first time in the lives of many Liberians," said the Carter Center.
Earlier on Thursday, Johnson Sirleaf told reporters in Monrovia that she believed that Liberia was "ready for this [political transfer] process."
Sports stars who moved into politics
The party of Imran Kahn a legendary former cricketer, has won the most seats in Pakistan's general election. He's not the only pro athlete to turn his hand to politics after hanging up his boots.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary
Imran Kahn – Pakistan's new prime minister?
Imran Kahn's Tehreek-e-Insaf party has won the most seats in Pakistan's general election. As a cricketer Kahn did it all. An "all-rounder," he claimed more than 350 test wickets with the ball and averaged almost 40 runs with the bat. Among his numerous achievements was captaining Pakistan to the 1992 Cricket World Cup title.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary
George Weah — President of Liberia
George Weah, representing the Coalition for Democratic Change, won more than 60 percent of the vote in the runoff of the 2017 Liberan presidential election against the incumbent Vice President Joseph Boakai. As a footballer, he played for AS Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan. In 1995 he was named the FIFA World Player of the Year.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Jallanzo
Vitali Klitschko — mayor of Kyiv
Like his brother Wladimir, Vitali Klitschko fought in the ring into his 40s, but Vitali had already begun a political career while still dominating heavyweight boxing. He first fought to be mayor of Ukraine's capital Kyiv in 2006, but only won the job in 2014 after Ukraine's "Maidan" revolution. His fairly fluent German comes in handy when Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel (r.) visits.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/B. von Jutrczenka
Manny Pacquiao — Duterte's successor?
Boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao has become a staunch supporter of hardline Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte since hanging up his gloves. Duterte has said more than once that he expects the former champ, now a senator, to succeed him as president. Pacquiao has stood up for some of Duterte's more contentious policies, like his war on drugs, mentioning his own drug addiction as a youth.
Image: Getty Images/M.Dejeto
Romario — '94 World Cup winner, Rio senator
Romario de Souza Faria wore the number 11 and partnered Bebeto up front when Brazil won the 1994 World Cup. Only Pele and Ronaldo have scored more for the Selecao. Now he's a sitting senator for Rio de Janeiro, representing the Socialist party of former presidents Lula and Dilma Rousseff.
Image: Getty Images/E.Sa
Judy Martz — speed skater and Montana governor
Judy Martz has often been first among Montana women. In 1964, competing in the 1,500-meter speed skating, she became one of the first two women from the state to go to the Olympics. In January 2001, she became the state's first female governor. At least for now, she remains Montana's only one. Republican Martz served one term, until 2005, and didn't run for a second.
Image: Getty Images/A.Wong
Ken Dryden — Montreal Canadiens, Liberal Party MP
Montreal Canadiens goaltender and NHL Hall of Famer Ken Dryden — so tall they called him the "four-story goalie" — won the Stanley Cup in his 1971 debut season. He went on to win five more that decade. By 2004, though, Dryden was drafted as a "star candidate" for the Liberal Party of current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He held a seat for seven years, and later even sought the party leadership.
Image: Getty Images/R.Wolowicz
Arnold Schwarzenegger — to California via Hollywood
Most know him either as The Terminator or as former governor of California, but it all began for Arnold Schwarzenegger as a pro bodybuilder. Aged 23, he became the youngest ever "Mr. Olympia." California's 38th Governor was first elected in 2003 in a special recall election, and was then elected to a second, full term in 2006. He later returned to acting and a Terminator reboot — "I'll be back."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Bill Bradley — New York Knick, New Jersey senator
NBA Hall of Famer Bill Bradley is that rarest of things: a New York Knick with a championship ring to his name. He was part of the 1970 and '73 chamionship teams, the only NBA titles the Knicks have ever won. But he also majored in history at Princeton and grew up a political animal. As a Democrat, he served almost two decades as a New Jersey Senator, even seeking the 2000 presidential nomination.
Image: Getty Images/P.Newcomb
Sebastian Coe — gold in the 80s, organizer in 2012
Enlisting Sebastian Coe was quite a coup for Britain's Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher. Winner of the 1,500-meter gold in 1980 and 1984, Coe was an MP by 1992. But he lost his seat in the next election. He was made a Lord, a permanent member of Britain's upper house, in 2000. But he's best known for his work as an ambassador for London's 2012 Olympics, and as current president of the IAAF.
Image: Getty Images/S. Powell
Gustav-Adolf Schur — DDR cyclist and socialist
An A-list celebrity in the former East Germany, Gustav-Adolf "Täve" Schur was snapped up by the party apparatus early on. Aged just 27 he was already a member of the East German parliament, serving in it from 1958 until its abolition in 1990. After reunification, he served a term in the federal parliament for a socialist party. Some said he shouldn't have got a spot in cycling's hall of fame.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Gerald Ford — Also a college footballer
Most remember the 38th President of the United States as the vice president thrown into the breach by Richard Nixon's resignation. But Gerald R. Ford was also an important water carrier for the University of Michigan's college football team in the 1932-34 seasons. In the first two of those, the "Wolverines" went undefeated.
Image: Public Domain/Gerald R. Ford Library
Ayrton Senna — Brazil's missed opportunity?
Hundreds of thousands of Brazilians lined the streets to bid farewell in 1994, after treble F1 champion Ayrton Senna was killed at the San Marino Grand Prix. An aggressive bully on the track, Senna was a different person out of the cockpit: fiercely religious, philanthropic and visibly pained by the plight of Brazil's poorest. Many in the F1 paddock were convinced he'd go into politics one day.
