Johnson-Sirleaf leads with 44.5 pct votes in preliminary results of Liberian polls

The elections commission in Liberia on Thursday afternoon began official announcement of preliminary results following Tuesday\'s presidential and legislature elections in which incumbent President Ellen Johnson- Sirleaf is seeking reelection for a six-year term against 15 other candidates. Announcing the preliminary results, the Chairman of the elections commission, James Fromayan, said that 16.5 percent of the votes nationally have been processed, out of which the ruling Unity Party of president Johnson-Sirleaf has secured 44.5 percent, followed by the opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) of Winston Tubman with 26.5 percent. In third place is former warlord and Senator Prince Y. Johnson of the National Union for Democratic Progress (NUDP) with 13.5 percent. A candidate is required to obtain 50 percent plus one vote to win the presidency. But if none of the candidates obtains the 50 percent plus one vote, the two candidates with the most votes would go into a runoff election. Final results are expected on Oct. 26, and should there be a runoff, the runoff election is expected to be held in early November. Liberia has 1,798,930 registered voters with 4,457 polling places. So far, the election commission has announced that 210,573 voters have been processed from Tuesday\'s elections. The next announcement of results is expected Friday evening. Ninety-nine (99) candidates are vying for 15 senatorial seats while 793 candidates are vying for 73 seats in the House of Representatives.