A somber incident has cast a pall over Liberia after a widely acclaimed electoral process, on the evening of November 20, 2023, a vehicle plowed into a crowd in Monrovia. The gathering comprised supporters of Joseph Boakai, whom the Electoral Commission had just declared the definitive winner of the presidential race.
According to the Unity Party, the political entity associated with Boakai, there are at least three fatalities and around twenty individuals with severe injuries, as reported by a hospital source.
In Monrovia, Liberia, scores of people had assembled on Monday evening to celebrate Joseph Boakai’s conclusive victory in the presidential election when a vehicle collided with the crowd. The party of the newly elected head of state reports three deaths and approximately twenty seriously injured individuals, citing a hospital source.
According to Melvin Sacko, a police official, the vehicle struck the assembled individuals and subsequently caught fire. “The investigation is still ongoing,” he stated.
Videos circulated on social media depict numerous individuals lying on the ground, some bloodied and receiving assistance, while others appear motionless.
Joseph Boakai secured victory with 50.64% of the votes, surpassing the incumbent President George Weah’s 49.36%, as announced by Davidetta Browne Lansanah, the President of the National Elections Commission (NEC), during a press briefing on Monday. The 78-year-old Boakai will lead the approximately 5 million inhabitants of this Anglophone nation for a six-year term.