Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s victory for a second term of office has been described as a boon for women despite the controversy surrounding an opposition boycott of the runoff.

Liberians voted in a runoff on Nov. 8 that was marred by violence and an opposition boycott. Credit: Robbie Corey-Boulet/IPS

“Let everyone know that we have confidence in this government and in this woman’s ability to deliver.”

Chesson-Wureh added that Sirleaf’s win also “shows the rest of the world … that she continues to serve as a role model to young women on the African continent.”

On Friday, the National Elections Commission announced that, with 97.6 percent of the vote counted, Sirleaf had received 90.6 percent of votes in the race against her opponent, former diplomat Winston Tubman of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC).

The runoff was not without controversy. In the days leading up to it, Tubman called for a boycott, citing alleged irregularities in the first round of voting in October. At a demonstration the day before the Nov. 8 runoff, police opened fire on CDC supporters, killing at least two in an incident that Tubman says was an assassination attempt.

At a press conference on Saturday at CDC headquarters, where the shootings took place, Tubman reiterated his party’s position that it would not recognise the results of the runoff.

“It was, we believe, a political farce of the highest order, and therefore it must not be allowed to stand,” he said.

Tubman said CDC lawyers would push for an annulment of the results and for a new round of balloting to be scheduled.

Sirleaf said in an address to the nation on Friday that an independent commission would be established to investigate the shootings at CDC headquarters, and expressed regret for “a tragic loss of life and injury.”

“We cannot be clearer: All those found to have broken the law will be brought to justice,” she said.

She also dismissed the notion that the CDC’s boycott undermined the legitimacy of her win, and vowed to foster a government of inclusion.

“I will reach out to all the presidential candidates. What I will offer them is not yet known because I haven’t really focused on reorganising the government,” Sirleaf said.

Chesson-Wureh added that just because the CDC boycotted the election, it did not mean the process was flawed.

“If you decide to boycott an election, it does not mean that the process is illegitimate, especially when the other person participates,” Chesson-Wureh said. “It is your constitutional right to vote, and so if you decide to waive that right, that’s fine. To use the word illegitimate is completely out of context.”

Chesson-Wureh said Sirleaf should push forward with initiatives that began during her first term of office.

Chesson-Wureh cited the increased number of women in positions of power in government – 30 percent of members of parliament are women – as one of Sirleaf’s achievements. She also lauded efforts to combat Liberia’s high rate of gender-based violence, including the establishment in 2008 of special courts for sexual violence cases.

“This shows that it is a no-nonsense approach, telling the world that sexual violence is a serious crime,” she said.

Sirleaf has said that half the country’s women are victims of gender-based violence as a result of the country’s 14-year civil war.

But Grace Zoe Davis, a 43-year-old woman who sells construction materials in Monrovia, said the empowerment of women in this West African nation has been limited to those in the upper class.

“I see no difference in what she has done for the lives of women in the last six years. (Sireleaf) has only (helped) people in her class and not the ordinary woman in Liberia,” Davis said.

“For 16 years I have been doing business, and I am still doing business. There are so many opportunities they claimed to have (created) for people, but … those in the upper class are the ones that enjoy those opportunities.”

Davis nonetheless credited Sirleaf, who was named a joint winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in October shortly before the election, for Liberia’s recent stability. She encouraged Sirleaf to promote more young, qualified Liberians to government positions.

“She needs to open up the system because there are lots of Liberian youth that are qualified, yet still she goes to the United States and brings in her friends to work in her government,” Davis said.

Patience Heah, a 34-year-old Labour Ministry employee and member of Sirleaf’s Unity Party, said the president incumbent has done much to promote women’s empowerment, and that her very presence as a head of state was symbolically important. Sirleaf become Africa’s first female head of state when she was elected as president in 2006.

“It gives women the courage to push forward and not to be at the back looking at the men,” Heah said. “No more will women sit and allow their male counterparts to rule over them. Things are now being done on a 50-50 basis.”

By Robbie Corey-Boulet, Stephen Binda, and - -
MONROVIA , Oct 18 2011 (IPS)

Former warlord Prince Johnson, who placed third in Liberia’s election last week, has endorsed the re-election bid of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who was named a joint winner of the Nobel Peace Prize just days before the vote.

The most recent results from the National Elections Commission (NEC), representing 96.7 percent of total votes cast on Oct. 11, show Johnson with 11.8 percent nationwide. Johnson-Sirleaf is in the lead with 44 percent – she needed more than 50 percent to avoid a runoff. The leading opposition candidate, Winston Tubman of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), is in second place with 32.2 percent. The results are, however, not final.

Johnson, most famous for overseeing the torture and execution of President Samuel Doe in 1990, said in an interview with a community radio station in his native Nimba County on Monday that he would be supporting Johnson-Sirleaf.

Johnson-Sirleaf, 72, will compete with Tubman in a runoff scheduled for Nov. 8.

It remains to be seen how much impact Johnson’s endorsement will have in Nimba, this West African nation’s second most-populous county. Johnson-Sirleaf’s Unity Party earned 25.5 percent of the vote in Nimba in the first round, while Tubman earned just 2.8 percent.

On Monday, Johnson said he believed his supporters were waiting for him to tell them who to vote for, referring to himself several times as a “king-maker”.

The build-up to his endorsement comes amid criticism from the opposition about the manner in which the results have been tallied. On Saturday, nine opposition parties – including the CDC and Johnson’s National Union for Democratic Progress – said they would be pulling out of the election in response to “massive fraud” and threatened not to accept the result.

“We direct all of our party agents assigned at NEC in all capacities to withdraw effective immediately,” the parties said in a statement. “If the process continues we will not accept the results.”

Tubman has since said he would participate in the runoff.

Johnson said Monday that he was convinced there had been widespread irregularities.

“There was cheating,” he said. “There was rigging. Many ballots were tampered with. We have several tally sheets in our possession that clearly indicate that something went wrong.”

NEC has denied allegations of wrongdoing, and a host of international observers have commended the voting process.

The Atlanta-based Carter Center described the vote as “peaceful, orderly, and remarkably transparent” in a statement released Thursday.

“Although the process of tabulating final results is ongoing and preliminary results have not been announced, the electoral process to date is a positive sign of Liberians’ commitment to democratic development,” the statement said.

The Carter Center cited “a number of minor procedural irregularities,” but said none would undermine the integrity of the vote.

“Observed irregularities included polling places where secrecy of the ballot was not strictly maintained, inking procedures undertaken out of order, and ballot papers folded improperly,” the statement said.

Despite his stated concerns about the process, Johnson said any resulting violence would be uncalled for.

“Whatever went wrong should not in any way allow any of us to be so angry to bring about any form of action that would destabilise peace in the country,” he said.

Johnson-Sirleaf delivered an address Monday condemning minor criminal acts reported since the vote, including the torching early Saturday morning of an office belonging to her Unity Party.

International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, who was in neighbouring Ivory Coast over the weekend as part of an investigation into the post-election violence that followed that country’s disputed vote last year, issued a warning to Liberia’s political class.

“My office is closely monitoring election-related developments including in neighbouring countries such as Liberia, which could affect stabilisation throughout the West African region,” he said. “We will pay close attention to the actions and statements of the political class, and in particular to the presidential candidates, including after the elections. Resorting to violence will not be tolerated.”

Addressing the factors he would consider in making his endorsement decision, Johnson also raised the prospect of war crimes prosecutions – but he was referring to those covering Liberia’s 14-year civil conflict, which ended in 2003 after claiming more than 250,000 lives.

Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended in 2009 that the country establish a war crimes tribunal and listed Johnson among those who should be prosecuted.

The commission included both Johnson and Johnson-Sirleaf on a list of people who should be banned from politics for 30 years on account of their alleged ties to warring factions. The commission’s recommendations have not been implemented, and the political bans have been deemed unconstitutional by the country’s Supreme Court.

On Monday, Johnson criticised leaders of the CDC – including Tubman and his running mate, former international football star George Weah – for past statements indicating their support of prosecutions.

“When you start arresting people to prosecute you could be bringing us back to zero ground,” he said.

“Frankly speaking, I can’t have my people voting for them,” Johnson continued. “The thing we’re talking about here is nationalism, patriotism. That’s what we are talking about.”

He later added: “We’re not afraid of a war crimes court but we are afraid of bogus charges levelled against us.”

Johnson also said the opposition CDC had failed to promote residents of Nimba County into leadership positions; something he said could hurt its chances in the county.

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By Robbie Corey-Boulet and Stephen Binda
MONROVIA, Oct 11 2011 (IPS)

Liberians cast their ballots Tuesday in an election that has so far been described as orderly and peaceful, though concerns persist that a disputed result could anger voters and fuel minor unrest.

Supporters from President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf's Unity Party during the last campaign rally on Sunday. Credit: Robbie Corey-Boulet/IPS

Her top rival that year, former international football star George Weah of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), claimed the election was stolen – despite affirmation of the results from a range of international observers – and refused to admit defeat.

This year, Weah is running for vice president under CDC presidential candidate and former diplomat Winston Tubman, but the allegations of fraud have not gone away. The CDC campaign theme song, “It will not hold,” condemns “the rigging of the election” and accuses President Johnson-Sirleaf’s Unity Party of “depending on cheating.”

At the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) polling station in downtown Monrovia on Tuesday, Emmanuel Kollimealyne, an officer with the Community Watch Forum of Liberia, said he had visited four polling stations in the morning and had found the process to be peaceful.

“I think I’m confident now that since the conduct of the campaign was very peaceful, the elections will be peaceful,” he said. “In Liberia we are more mature now.”

But he said there were still doubts that the CDC would be able to accept defeat. “I think it comes from 2005,” he said. “Also, this year they are pre-empting that they will be cheated. They are starting to (sound) the alarm earlier.”

The first voter in line at the YMCA, having arrived at 5am, was Teddy Tubman, the 25-year-old nephew of Winston Tubman.

“I want this election to be peaceful, free and fair,” Teddy Tubman said. “There should be no cheating.”

Asked how he thought the CDC would respond to a loss, he said: “Well, in 2005 the opposition decided to accept the election result because of peace, because of the people. We don’t want this election to repeat what happened in 2005. Any case of cheating might erupt in violence.”

The campaign period came to a close on Sunday, with the parties holding competing rallies in two stadiums in Monrovia. Though large groups of supporters of the CDC and Johnson-Sirleaf’s Unity Party occasionally encountered each other in the streets, the marching and slogan-shouting generally remained good-natured.

Political observers are expecting a close race that could head to a runoff in early November. The National Elections Commission has said results will be announced by Oct. 26, though preliminary results are expected sooner.

CDC Chairman Geraldine Doe-Sheriff has said the party would release its own results, a possibility that has sparked alarm among election monitors. Speaking to reporters Tuesday, General Yakubu Gowon, Nigeria’s former head of state and head of the Carter Center’s 55-person international election observation mission in Liberia, said such a move would be illegal.

“It is not right. The only person to announce the result is the chairman of the National Electoral Commission,” Gowon said. “If they do it, it is against the law and I hope there is a process whereby such a thing can be dealt with. But it will not be accepted as the result.”

Gowon also said the election was going “exceptionally well” despite light rainfall around midday. “People have turned out in great numbers and enthusiastically,” he said. “It has been going well so far and we hope that it will continue to go well in all places.”

Winston Tubman cast his ballot at around 10:30am at a high school in central Monrovia. “Liberians are peaceful people who are seizing the ballot boxes to do what is necessary so that we can get back on a normal path,” he told reporters.

Asked whether he would win, he responded, “Sure, and in the first round.”

But Mother Ainoson, a 56-year-old supporter of Johnson-Sirleaf, said she believed the incumbent would prevail, and that any allegations of fraud that might ensue would be unfounded.

“If you look at the whole aspect, people have security at all of the polling stations, so who will bypass that and cheat?” she said. “So I want to say that everything will be fair.”

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