Key issues as Liberia votes today
Over two million Liberians will go to the polls today to elect a successor to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
Sirleaf, Africa’s first female president, is stepping down after serving the constitutionally mandated limit of two six-year terms in power.
This will be the first democratic power transfer for 73 years in the country.
Twenty candidates are standing for the country’s top job, two of whom are independent. A runoff election is likely as none of the candidates is projected to win a majority outright.
A candidate must win more than 50% of the votes to be declared winner.
Election campaign has been loud and peaceful, with thousands of people marching through the streets chanting campaign slogans. Most expectations are that it will come off without bloodshed.
Liberians will also elect 73 legislators to the House of Representatives (lower chamber), also for six years. No poll will be held for the Senate (upper house) this year.
Contenders
The front-runners are Sirleaf’s vice president, Joseph Boakai; George Weah, a footballing icon; two prominent businessmen, Alexander Cummings and Benoni Urey; former central bank governor Mills Jones; and veteran opposition figure Charles Brumskine.
The scars of the brutal war are still visible. Weah’s running mate Jewel Howard-Taylor is the exwife of former dictator Charles Taylor, while warlord-turnedevangelical preacher Prince Johnson is running for president for the second time.
Fashion model-turnedhumanitarian, MacDella Cooper is the only woman contender for the top job.
Security
Liberia has suffered horrific back-to-back civil wars (19892003), which killed an estimated more than a quarter of a million people and displaced thousands of others.
Providing a safe and secure election environment will be the first big test for the newly empowered Liberian security forces that took over the responsibility for national security last year.
Since the launch of a peacekeeping mission in September 2003, UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) has been responsible for the country’s security. It has worked to rebuild police and military forces from scratch and disarmed rebels.
President Sirleaf’s successor will have to work hard to consolidate on her peace building and economic recovery after civil war turned her country into a wasteland.
Economy
Liberia’s economic recovery since the war has been remarkable. GDP for the country of 4.6 million reached $2.1 billion last year up from just $550 million the year Sirleaf Johnson took office in 2005.
However, the country is still one of the world’s poorest. Over 60 per cent of the country’s population live below poverty line.
The economy, depends heavily on foreign aid, was seriously affected when the country survived the 2014 Ebola crisis, virtually shutting down businesses.
Boosting the economy in the future will depend on economic diversification, increasing investment and trade, higher global commodity prices, sustained foreign aid, development of infrastructure, combating corruption, and maintaining political stability and security.
Unemployment
Young people, according to the United Nations, make up more than 60 percent of the country’s population, and youth unemployment is estimated to be as high as 85 percent.
In 2013, President Sirleaf said youth unemployment is a major threat to peace and security in her country, and unless it was addressed could return Liberia back into conflict.
Corruption
Corruption is endemic in Liberia. Residents complain of corruption from officials and poor public services.
President Sirleaf, after she came to power, declared corruption a “major public enemy”. Twelve years later, the country still ranks poorly in fighting graft. Liberia is ranked 90 out of 176 countries in Transparency International’s 2016 corruption perception index.
President Sirleaf acknowledged that when she addressed parliament earlier this year, that “We have not fully met the anti-corruption pledge that we made in 2006”
Candidates are well-informed of the country’s common problems and their manifestos appear in tune with that.