Liberian President George Weah has equated the conduct of the October 10 presidential and legislative elections to the European Champion league that calls for home and away matches.

Weah, a successful footballer, whose success in France and Italy saw him winning the Ballon d’Or in 1995, said he had predicted a runoff but several of his officials assured him that he would have won the election on the first ballot.

Speaking at his Forky Klon Jlaleh Family Fellowship Church, a Church he built overseas as pastor urged his supporters to prepare for the return match in November this year between him and his main rival—former vice president Joseph Boakai.

“…I said we would have gone to a second round but everybody said one round! But it’s a Champions league, that home and away,” Weah said to a jubilant congregation.

Meanwhile, Weah said now that his side is in the lead ahead of the second leg of the competition (the runoff election), he is hopeful of winning a second term.

With the pronouncement of over 99.97 percent of the overall vote cast on October 10, it is now imminent that there will be a runoff between him and Joseph Boakai of the Unity Party.

Releasing another set of results on Thursday, the Chairperson of the Commission—Davidetta Brown Lansana said with 5,888 polling places out of the total of 5,890 polling places reporting, Weah obtained 43.8,4 percent while Boakai got 43.3,4 percent.

She said of the total votes cast, President Weah got 803,956 votes, noting that Boaki obtained 796,513 votes.

The result shows that none of the 20 presidential candidates were able to secure the constitutional mandate of 50% plus one vote to win on the first ballot—hence, a runoff is highly possible.

Meanwhile, President George Weah is calling on his supporters to remain focused and ensure a win during the first round, stressing that he had never lost a competition.

“I am not moved by what people say because every competition I go to I know I will win,” he said.

The Liberian leader also used the medium to appreciate all Liberians for maintaining the peace of the country following the conduct of the October 10 elections.

He asserted that despite the differences, Liberians were able to go to the polls and conduct themselves in a peaceful manner.

At the same time, he attributed the low number of votes obtained during the elections to dishonest public officials as well as those associated with public officials who have refused to make a positive impact on society.