Early results give incumbent president lead in Liberian election

Provisional results of the just concluded presidential and legislative elections in Liberia indicated an early major lead for incumbent President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the National Elections Commission told a press conference here on Thursday afternoon. With the votes so far counted, Sirleaf had garnered 44.5 percent, thus a leading front-runner in the polls. Former UN diplomat Winston Tubman with the Congress for Democracy Change (CDC) and football legend George Weah received between them 26.5 percent of the votes from parts of the 15 political subdivisions of the country. Former warlord and Senator Prince Johnson from northern Liberia collected 26,294 votes, something observers believed has made him a high-profile political commodity. A total of 210,573 votes were cast nationwide. According to the elections authority, provisional results will continue to be released in the coming days until October 26 when final announcement will be made.