George Weah will be Liberia’s 25th President; Jonathan, others applaud election

With 61.5% of votes cast, African football legend, George Weah, is set to become the 25th President of Liberia following confirmation of his much-touted victory by the National Elections Commission.
He beat the country’s vice president, Joseph Boakai, who got 38.5% of votes.
His victory comes as former President Goodluck Jonathan, who is co-leading the National Democratic Institute Election Observer group to the Liberian Presidential election run-off election, and other leaders of the delegation have acclaimed the Boxing Day polls as peaceful, orderly, and well-organized.
The National Democratic Institute (NDI) made this known Thursday in its preliminary statement issued in Monrovia on the December 26, Presidential run-off.
The delegation however stressed that official election results were not yet complete, and called on “Liberian political parties and candidates to cooperate in good faith with the National Elections Commission and for the results to be expeditiously released.”
Speaking of his experienced on the field on voting day, former President Jonathan said: “I am proud of Liberians, who have come from crisis to democracy and have shown themselves to be a model of peace
and stability in the region. Democracy goes beyond election day, and if Liberia succeeds, West Africa succeeds, Africa succeeds, and the world succeeds.”
Speaking in the same vein, Kosovo’s former President Atifete Jahjaga, said: “The NDI delegation would like to congratulate the people of Liberia for exercising their right to vote and for making a historic step towards the consolidation of democracy in their country. It is my hope that the positive trends that we have observed during this
election will be sustained and further improved during future elections.”
In noting that voting was peaceful, orderly and well-organized as executed by trained polling officials, the preliminary statement also highlighted “aspects of voter participation, election administration, women and youth participation and security.”
The NDI Liberia international election observer delegation included 36 political and civic leaders, elections experts and regional specialists from 18 countries across Africa, Europe and North America.
The delegation’s leadership was as follows: Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, former President of Nigeria; Atifete Jahjaga, former President of Kosovo; Hanna Tetteh, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ghana; and Dr. Christopher Fomunyoh, Regional Director, NDI.
The delegation’s preliminary statement provides recommendations to the
government of Liberia, the National Elections Commission, political parties and candidates, security forces, civil society, the media, the international community, as well as other stakeholders. The recommendations focus on reviewing legal framework, communicating timely and accurate information, promoting peace, improving women’s participation and continuing to engage citizens in the electoral
process.