Liberian president and football legend George Weah has conceded defeat to opposition leader Joseph Boakai after a tight presidential run-off, saying it was “time to put national interest above personal interest.”
Latest results yesterday showed Boakai leading with nearly 51 percent of the votes in Africa’s oldest republic.
“The results announced tonight, though not final, indicate that… Boakai is in a lead that we cannot surpass,” Weah said in a speech on national radio late Friday.
He said his CDC party had lost the election but Liberia had won, adding: “This is the time for graciousness in defeat.”
The 78-year-old Boakai lost to Weah, 57, by a large margin in the second-round presidential vote in 2017.
With more than 99.5 percent of the polling stations reporting vote tallies after Tuesday’s second-round vote, Boakai had garnered 50.89 percent of ballots cast, according to the election commission.