FORMER MILAN STAR STILL ON GOAL FOR PRESIDENCY

The West Africa state of Liberia which produced Africa’s first elected women president in Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, is still on course to be the first African country to elect a former professional footballer, George Weah, to the presidency.

Although the voting results from from some 25 percent of Liberia’s polling stations are still to be officially announced, George Weah has currently received 39 percent of the vote, nearly 10 percent ahead of his main rival Vice President Joseph Boakai. Lawyer Charles Brumskine trails in third place on 9.7 percent.

With no candidate gaining over 50 percent of the vote Liberians will head to the polls for a second round election between the top two candidates, Weah and Boakai.

FIRST AFRICAN FIFA PLAYER OF THE YEAR

As perhaps the best African striker of all times George Weah is used to scoring firsts in life.

A former star player for Milan, Monaco, Paris St Germain, Chelsea and Manchester City, Weah was the first African to be voted FIFA’s World Player of the Year and win the Ballon d’Or, something he achieved in 1989, 1994 and 1995 before being named African Footballer of the Year in 1996.

George Weah lost the presidential election in Liberia in 2005 in the second round of voting, defeated by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf but gained elected office in 2014 as a Senator for the Congress for Democratic Change.

Official results for the first round of elections must be announced by October 25th. If Liberians go on to successfully elect a successor to President Johnson Sirleaf, it will be the first democratic transfer of power seen in the country in over 70 years.

But as they say in football, it’s not over until the referee blows the final whistle and Liberia’s election could yet be a game of two halves.