Former football legend George Weah is seeking a second term in office as Liberia goes to the polls on Tuesday, October 10
Weah, 57, is facing nineteen other candidates who are eyeing the seat with the main challenger being former Deputy President Joseph Boakai, 78.
Meanwhile Boakai’s campaign sparked attractions with his slogan “Rescue”, arguing that the Liberia state of development was unprogressive during Weah’s tenure as President.
Boakai added that he is confident of victory, saying that he has kept Liberia stable and has improved education while serving as a vice president to Africa’s first female President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
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Football Star to President
Weah, was 1995 FIFA’s Player of the Year. He starred in top-flight football at Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan in the 1990s, and briefly at Chelsea and Manchester City.
Weah joined politics following his retirement from football in 2002.
Subsequently the football star George Weah secured a stunning run-off victory in December 2017 in the country’s first democratic transfer of power in decades.
George Weah First Term
The former international footballer came to power promising to create jobs and invest in education; however, critics say he has failed to keep his pledges.
At the time, Weah dismissed claims that he failed on his 2017 campaign promises, saying that he made significant strides in his first term, including introducing free tuition for university students.
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He has promised to continue enhancing economic reforms if re-elected, including creating more jobs.
With his campaign slogan “One round victory”, the incumbent president has expressed his commitment to developing the country in a peaceful way once elected again.
“We must all cherish this peace and continue to preserve it, because without peace, our world will be difficult,” Weah told thousands of people gathered in Monrovia Sunday.
Further adding that “Without peace, development will not take place.”
Cry for Credible Polls
The authorities have however vowed to track troublemakers while the national electoral commission is seeking to reassure people it can organize fair and credible polls.
“Everything’s ready… We anticipate that all should go well,” said commission chairperson Davidetta Browne-Lansanah.
Similarly, this will be the first election to be held since the United Nations ended its peacekeeping mission in Liberia in 2018.
Liberia Civil Wars
Notably, this will be the first time that a generation of young voters, born in peace-time Liberia, will vote for a president.
The West African State is Africa’s oldest republic, which became known in the 1990s for its civil wars, and its role in a rebellion in neighboring Sierra Leone.
Between 1989 and 2003 around 250,000 people were killed in Liberia’s civil wars, and many thousands more fled the fighting as the economy collapsed.
