The Hindu : International : George Weah faces run-off

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Wednesday, Oct 19, 2005

International

International

George Weah faces run-off

Jeevan Vasagar

Liberian poll panel schedules fresh elections for November 8

NAIROBI: Football star George Weah faces a run-off against a former World Bank economist in the contest to become President of Liberia, as none of the candidates won an absolute majority in last week's elections.

With 90 per cent of votes counted, Mr. Weah received 257,027, putting him at the front of a field of 22 candidates, while his closest rival, the Harvard-educated former finance minister, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, got 175,520. The two leading candidates will go head-to-head in a fresh election set for November 8, the National Electoral Commission has said.

Liberia's choice has been narrowed to two strikingly different candidates. Mr. Weah (39) is a former AC Milan and Chelsea striker who has made a selling point of his lack of experience and qualifications. Instead, he has stressed an empathy with ordinary voters. Though he is a millionaire with a home in Florida, he refers regularly to his upbringing in a slum in Liberia's capital, Monrovia.

Mr. Weah's supporters chant the slogan: ``He know book, he don't no book — I'll vote for him,'' meaning that his lack of education is no bar to high office.

Stress on experience

His rival in the run-off, Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf (66) was an economist before entering politics in 1972 and would be Africa's first female President if she wins. Her campaign stresses her experience. One poster has a latest image of her alongside a 1986 photograph of her as a young woman emerging from prison and raising her hand to greet jubilant supporters. She was jailed twice for speeches critical of the corrupt former President, Samuel Doe, who seized power in a coup in 1980.

In the eyes of many voters, however, Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf is tarnished because she once supported Charles Taylor, a warlord who ousted Mr. Doe, but replaced his regime with one of corruption and brutality.

Liberia has abundant resources of rubber, timber and diamonds and a small population, but its infrastructure has been ruined by war. A key campaign pledge of all the candidates was simply to restore mains electricity and running water to the capital.

``There's no quick fix,'' Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf told the Guardian in an interview. ``It's not something that can be done in five years, or in 10. Our people's expectations will be high but one has to be honest.''

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005

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