Monrovia, Nov. 21, (dpa/GNA) – Several people were killed in the Liberian capital Monrovia when a car ploughed into a group of supporters of Joseph Boakai, who won the run-off election for the presidency.
According to media reports, on Monday evening people were celebrating the upcoming transfer of power in front of the headquarters of Boakai’s Unity Party (UP), when a car crashed into the crowd.
Local newspaper the Liberian Observer and the news portal Front Page Africa reported that 10 people were killed and 20 others injured, citing eyewitnesses.
The driver of the car, whose motive is still unclear, then fled the scene on a motorbike.
Shortly beforehand, the electoral commission had announced the official final result of the presidential election on October 14. According to the results, incumbent and former world footballer George Weah was defeated with 49.4% of the valid votes, while Boakai received 50.6%.
Weah had already conceded defeat on Friday evening and congratulated Boakai on his victory. He had won the first round of voting on October 10 with 20 candidates by a narrow margin with 43.83% of the vote ahead of Boakai with 43.44%.
Boakai was vice president under Nobel Peace Prize winner Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf from 2006 to 2018. The government of former football star Weah, who played for top clubs such as Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan in the 1990s, is associated with several corruption scandals.
During the election campaign, both candidates promised new jobs and investment in the highly indebted country’s infrastructure.
Despite its rich natural resources, the state on the Atlantic coast is one of the poorest countries in the world. In addition to economic problems, the country is burdened by corruption and the slow process of coming to terms with the crimes committed during the civil war, which claimed the lives of around 250,000 people between 1989 and 2003.
Most war criminals went unpunished.
GNA