LIBERIA: Liberians vote in the first elections since civil war ended two years ago
Record ID:
859304
LIBERIA: Liberians vote in the first elections since civil war ended two years ago
- Title: LIBERIA: Liberians vote in the first elections since civil war ended two years ago
- Date: 11th October 2005
- Summary: CLOSE OF EUROPEAN ELECTION OBSERVER BADGE ON DE BERG'S SLEEVE; PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE GEORGE WEAH TALKING TO EU OBSERVER MAX VAN DE BERG
- Embargoed: 26th October 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Liberia
- City:
- Country: Liberia
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVASWEW55PNGUJR6DUUPI3C2KD6
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: Thousands of Liberians voted enthusiastically on Tuesday (October 11, 2005) in elections they hope will build a better future for a West African country laid waste by one of the continent's most brutal civil wars.
At polling stations set up in churches, schools, public buildings and even rural huts and tents, crowds of voters lined up to take part in the first presidential and parliamentary polls held since the 14-year war ended in 2003.
Out of 22 presidential hopefuls that include former warlords and wealthy lawyers, former AC Milan striker and millionaire soccer star George Weah and former World Bank economist Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf are seen as the frontrunners.
Many Liberians were voting for the first time and saw the polls as an historic opportunity to leave behind a cycle of violence in Africa's oldest independent republic, founded by freed slaves from America in 1847.
Hours before voting centres opened under the watchful eye of blue-bereted United Nations peacekeepers, people had gathered outside. Some slept the night there, while in up-country rural areas, others faced long walks over mud-choked roads to vote.
The first partial results were expected from the National Elections Commission on Wednesday. (October 12)
Voting was reported to have been peaceful. At Ganta, a potential troublespot on the border with Guinea in the north, Nigerian peacekeepers patrolled the streets, backed by a U.N. helicopter.
European Union election observer Max van de Berg told Reuters despite problems such as illiteracy the people would express their will.
"That will put enormous pressure on everybody who is elected to try at least to do something for the people of their own country and not play their own political games again," he said.
Both Weah and Johnson-Sirleaf had campaigned on promises to rebuild Liberia's shattered infrastructure and restore basic services like running water and mains electricity to the country.
If 66-year-old grandmother Johnson-Sirleaf wins, she could become Africa's first elected female president.
"Liberian people are really ready to vote, it's a wonderful feeling to want to be a part of this historic event and I think that Liberia's on the way to recovery, to renewal," she said after voting in Tubmanburg, north of Monrovia.
Some question whether Weah, who was brought up in a Monrovia shantytown, has the qualifications and political experience to be president. His supporters retort that Harvard-trained professionals like Johnson-Sirleaf have done little to help ordinary Liberians over the last two decades.
Key to the new president's ability to govern will be the balance of power in the 30-seat Senate and 64-seat House of Representatives, which were also being elected on Tuesday.
Until a 2003 peace deal, Liberia was torn apart by 14 years of on-off fighting in which child soldiers high on drugs wielded grenade launchers and Kalashnikovs.
A quarter of a million people were killed and almost a third of the population were forced to flee their homes. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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