Vote counting is underway in Liberia’s presidential election after a day of peaceful voting Tuesday. Nobel Peace Prize winner and incumbent President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is facing a tough fight for re-election, in the country’s second polls since the end of Liberia’s civil war.
Liberia’s National Election Commission says ballots from Tuesday’s vote are being sorted and counted, with the first provisional results expected Thursday afternoon. If none of the 16 candidates wins an outright majority, there will be a second-round run off between the top two finishers, who most election observes expect to be President Sirleaf and former justice minister Winston Tubman. As Liberians await those results, political leaders are calling on their supporters to stay calm.
Tony Kollie, an election monitor for Tubman’s Congress for Democratic Change party,says voters should not get too caught up in unofficial results that are being reported by some local radio stations.
“We just want to say this to all Liberians, let them know that Liberia is our common patrimony that which we always stand to defend as a people and state,” said Kollie.
Full Article: Calls For Calm as Liberia Counts Presidential Votes | Africa | English.