Liberia's VP and candidate says he will accept defeat if he loses the election

Liberia’s Vice President Joseph Boakai has pledged to accept defeat if he loses the October 10 elections which he is contesting as the ruling party’s candidate.

The 72-year-old Unity Party (UP) candidate said he will win the first round of the election but is also open for disappointments.

“Disappointments are one of the possible outcomes. We will take whatever comes but we have worked hard for victory … We are going to win the first round of this election. The Liberians have decided,” he said at a press conference on Monday.

Boakai said he will continue the legacy of the Sirleaf government which he identified as having good ideas that lacked implementation.

“This government did not lack good ideas. What we lacked is implementation. How do we put these ideas out to make them work. The people said road first, then they talked about health and education. We should have followed it,” he said.

He also added that he will fight corruption and eschew favouritism if he is elected the next president.

“Corruption will be fought from the core. There will be no favouritism not even from my family. The good things that have been done will be continued … Every hand should be on board and we will do it without favour,” he said.

Joseph Boakai has had less support from Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in his presidential bid. He said in a speech recently that he is like “a car parked in a garage that needed spare parts to work”.

The ruling Unity Party has criticized Sirleaf for being passive in getting her party to win the elections.

Polls open between 0800 GMT and 1800 GMT on October 10. Over two million people are expected to vote.

There are 20 candidates including a woman vying to succeed Sirleaf who is Africa’s first democratically elected female president.