Liberians head to polls excited by change
LIBERIA: After a dozen years of recovery under Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for helping bring peace after civil war turned her country into a wasteland, Liberians are hopeful about their first democratic power transfer for 73 years.
Twenty candidates are standing to replace Johnson Sirleaf in a first round today. With nobody likely to win a majority outright, the top two are expected to face each other in a runoff in around a month.
While the election campaign has been rambunctious, it has been mainly peaceful so far, and most expectations are that it will come off without bloodshed.
Johnson Sirleaf, 78, has many accomplishments to boast since she became Africa’s first modern female head of state.
The economy is four times the size it was when she took office in 2005. The gangs of drug-addled youths who raped and mutilated their way across the nation during a civil war that ended in 2003 are a vivid but receding memory.
Charles Taylor, the warlord who ruled in Liberia’s darkest days, is in a British jail, serving a life sentence for crimes against humanity, including terrorism, pillage, rape, murder and sexual slavery – the first former head of state convicted by an international tribunal since Nuremburg.
Yet the country is still one of the world’s poorest. It survived another existential crisis three years ago with an outbreak of the Ebola virus that overwhelmed its health services.
Residents complain of corruption and poor public services, and say that while they are thankful for the peace that Johnson Sirleaf brought, they are excited about the prospect of change.
Among the frontrunners to win a place in the runoff are Vice President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, representing the ruling Unity Party, and football star George Weah, who lost to Johnson Sirleaf in 2005. Weah has served in the senate since 2014 for the opposition Congress for Democratic Change.
Liberia, Africa’s oldest republic, was founded by freed United States slaves in the 19th century.
Its recovery since the war has been remarkable. GDP for the country of 4.6 million reached US$2.1 billion (NZ$2.97B) last year, up from just $550 million the year Sirleaf Johnson took office.
– Reuters