Liberian newspapers on Wednesday reported low turnout of more than two million registered voters in a run-off presidential election.

Liberians went to the polls on Tuesday (December 26) for a presidential election they hope will mark their first democratic transfer of power in more than seven decades, despite allegations of fraud.

Former world footballer of the year George Weah is squaring up against vice president Joseph Boakai, both of them promising to tackle poverty and corruption in a country where most citizens have no reliable electricity or clean drinking water.

They are bidding to succeed Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in a run-off vote delayed for more than a month after Boakai and another candidate alleged widespread fraud in October’s first-round vote, a challenge that the Supreme Court rejected this month.

Some people in the streets of capital Monrovia expressed their satisfaction with the peaceful election process and called the poll “fair and transparent”.

The National Elections Commission (NEC) has urged both parties, Weah’s Congress for Democratic Change and Boakai’s ruling Unity Party, to refrain from announcing results before the official tally in two days. The NEC will start announcing the first results at 1100 GMT.

Reuters