International Courant
Monrovia, Liberia – Greater than 2.4 million Liberians will go to the polls on Tuesday to elect a president and members of their parliament. There are presently 19 candidates looking for to exchange incumbent President George Weah of the Coalition of Democratic Change (CDC), who’s looking for a second six-year time period.
The 2 foremost challengers are former Vice President Joseph Nyuma Boakai and businessman Alexander Cummings. Each males beforehand served in a four-party opposition alliance, the Coalition of Political Events (CPP). Regardless of its preliminary success, the coalition has since fallen aside following reported disagreements over who will get the presidential ticket on this election cycle.
Additionally within the operating is Tiawan Gongloe of the Liberian Individuals’s Occasion, a famend human rights lawyer and legislation professor who served because the nation’s solicitor common throughout the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf administration.
The previous president turned Africa’s first elected feminine chief in 2006, however inclusivity in politics stays a mirage in lots of elements of the continent, together with her native Liberia. Solely two of the 20 candidates in Tuesday’s presidential election are girls, together with Sara Nyanti, a former deputy particular consultant on the UN mission in South Sudan.
George Wea
Weah, who’s operating for a second time period, boasted that he would safe outright victory within the first spherical of elections. He has been in workplace since 2017.
CDC’s Weah has retained present Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor as his operating mate. Howard-Taylor is the ex-wife of former president Charles Taylor, who’s serving a 50-year sentence for crimes in opposition to humanity dedicated in neighboring Sierra Leone, in a British jail.
Weah, 57, has mentioned his efficiency can be sufficient to safe re-election. He credit a free tuition program for public college college students that was established in 2018 as an achievement. The Weah authorities additionally pays the charges for the West African Senior College Certificates Examination (WASSCE) for ninth and twelfth graders in public faculties.
As well as, the federal government has elevated entry to electrical energy and decreased prices from 38 cents per kilowatt to a mean of 15 cents per kilowatt. The federal government has additionally launched into a number of highway development initiatives throughout the nation.
Regardless of this, critics say corruption below Weah was rife. In addition they level to the state of the financial system and rising meals costs, which sparked protests in December final yr and June 2019, as indicative of presidency failure.
In his manifesto, Weah has pledged to cut back out-of-pocket funds for medical prices via necessary social medical health insurance, and has additionally pledged to offer off-the-grid photo voltaic vitality to public hospitals and secondary faculties.
He has additionally pledged to create sustainable jobs by formalizing artisanal and small-scale mining actions and offering coaching to prosecutors on sexual and gender-based violence.
Joseph Boekai
With a long time of expertise in Liberia’s public sector, Boakai has broad title recognition and is now aiming for the presidency below the Unity Occasion (UP). The 78-year-old beforehand served as Secretary of Agriculture from 1983 to 1985. He additionally served as vice chairman of Johnson-Sirleaf from 2006 to 2018.
This yr, Boakai shaped an alliance with the Motion for Democracy and Reconstruction (MDR), based by former warlord and senator Prince Johnson. That’s the reason Boakai has chosen MDR senator Jeremiah Koung as his operating mate.
Johnson and Koung hail from and wield important affect in Nimba, the nation’s second most populous province. MDR beforehand entered into an alliance with CDC in 2017 and supported it within the second spherical of elections that Weah finally gained. The alliance was dissolved in 2022 amid Johnson’s complaints a couple of lack of employment for “his individuals”.
For a lot of, Boakai’s second try on the presidency is a rematch with Weah after the 2 males confronted off in 2017. Each males superior to the second spherical after nobody reached the required absolute majority to assert victory within the first spherical. Weah ultimately gained.
Constructing on his expertise, Boakai has made agriculture a key marketing campaign problem, promising to extend home rice manufacturing and arrange three agricultural equipment hubs within the nation.
He additionally pledged to construct highways connecting provincial capitals and highways connecting Liberia to different nations to enhance cross-border commerce.
The previous vice chairman has additionally pledged to work with the legislature to ascertain a specialised courtroom to expedite circumstances of corruption and financial crimes and to help the non-public sector in growing strong waste recycling applications waste for the manufacturing of renewable vitality.
Nevertheless, critics say that at 78, Boakai is simply too previous to manipulate. Bookai has additionally been accused of coping with well being points, which he has denied.
Alexander Cummings
Alexander Cummings first got here to prominence on the Liberian political scene when he ran for president in 2017 and completed fifth. This yr he can be on the stage of the Collaborating Political Occasion (CPP), a coalition between Cumming’s Various Nationwide Congress and the Liberty Occasion.
Cummings, 57, served as head of Coca-Cola’s African subsidiary from 2001 to 2008 and as world chief administrative officer from 2008 till his retirement in 2016.
In his function at Coca-Cola, he oversaw the creation of the Africa Basis, which helped lead the continental response to the unfold of HIV/AIDS. In 2011, he obtained Liberia’s highest nationwide award – the Humane Order of African Redemption – from Johnson-Sirleaf for his humanitarian work.
Cummings has targeted his marketing campaign on diversifying Liberia’s financial system. To that finish, he has pledged to ascertain a $20 million empowerment fund to help women- and youth-owned companies, in addition to farmers, inside his first 100 days in energy if he wins, whereas eliminating all present taxes and laws freeze to be revised to create a business-friendly surroundings. He has additionally talked a couple of “purchase Liberian” coverage that prioritizes shopping for domestically made merchandise to spice up indigenous companies.
Lastly, he has expressed help for the creation of a conflict crimes courtroom to prosecute key figures within the nation’s civil wars of 1989-1997 and 1999-2003.
The individuals vying for the presidency of Liberia on October 10 | Elections Information
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