Liberia votes with Weah still leading presidential pack

MONROVIA – Braving long lines and hot sun, Liberians went to the polls yesterday to pick from 22 candidates including football hero George Weah and a World Bank executive, each promising to restore the war-torn west African nation after decades of war and corruption.

UN helicopters circled overhead as more than 3 000 polling stations opened nationwide after 08h00, and camouflage-clad UN peacekeepers mingled with west African, local and international poll observers. “The polls are open,” National Electoral Commission spokesman Bobby Livingston told AFP.Yesterday’s vote caps a two-year transitional period born of an August 2003 peace pact signed by three rival factions to end Liberia’s second civil war since 1989.”As you can see, Liberians today are voting without fear – no one is thinking about war anymore,” Weah told reporters before casting his ballot near his home in Monrovia’s densely populated Paynesville neighbourhood.The 39-year-old former FIFA player of the year, a high school dropout with no formal political experience, leads the pack of candidates that includes a handful of former warlords and wealthy businessmen and lawyers.He has ignited the mostly youthful electorate of 1,35 million registered voters, but faces enough competition and skepticism about his qualifications that a second round is expected.His primary rival, former UN and World Bank economist Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, is counting on the women who make up just over half of the voting population to vault her into office as Africa’s first woman president.Voters may also choose warlords to serve in the legislature, representing both the party of former president Charles Taylor and a coalition led by Varney Sherman, seen as the proxy of the current government.Adolphous Dolo, known during his time under Taylor as General Peanut Butter, is standing for the Senate in northern Nimba county, as is Prince Johnson, who launched the 1989 rebellion alongside Taylor and was videotaped torturing then president Samuel K.Doe to death.- Nampa-AFP”The polls are open,” National Electoral Commission spokesman Bobby Livingston told AFP.Yesterday’s vote caps a two-year transitional period born of an August 2003 peace pact signed by three rival factions to end Liberia’s second civil war since 1989.”As you can see, Liberians today are voting without fear – no one is thinking about war anymore,” Weah told reporters before casting his ballot near his home in Monrovia’s densely populated Paynesville neighbourhood.The 39-year-old former FIFA player of the year, a high school dropout with no formal political experience, leads the pack of candidates that includes a handful of former warlords and wealthy businessmen and lawyers.He has ignited the mostly youthful electorate of 1,35 million registered voters, but faces enough competition and skepticism about his qualifications that a second round is expected.His primary rival, former UN and World Bank economist Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, is counting on the women who make up just over half of the voting population to vault her into office as Africa’s first woman president.Voters may also choose warlords to serve in the legislature, representing both the party of former president Charles Taylor and a coalition led by Varney Sherman, seen as the proxy of the current government.Adolphous Dolo, known during his time under Taylor as General Peanut Butter, is standing for the Senate in northern Nimba county, as is Prince Johnson, who launched the 1989 rebellion alongside Taylor and was videotaped torturing then president Samuel K.Doe to death.- Nampa-AFP