a young man in a red tshirt walked out from under the banner reading “polling precinct here”. he looked around briefly, past the orderly line to his right, back to the polling station behind him, with its blue vested observers and jauntily capped police officer. he paused for a second, then jogged, grinning, through the puddles that fllled the lane below my apartment’s balcony, his black ink tipped finger thrust victoriously into the air.
i would wager that this is a sight few people familiar with liberia imagined as plausible less than a decade ago. the polls in liberia’s second presidential election since the end of the civil war have been open for just about eight hours now, and although BBC is reporting long lines in some areas, there are no reports of major disturbances.
as a (ok, not so) quick background: following an unspeakably brutal civil conflict lasting for 14 years, liberians elected ellen johnson-sirleaf, a harvard educated banker and economist (and, as of last week, nobel prize winner) as africa’s first woman president. in the intervening six years, the country has made significant improvements in several areas. sirleaf’s greatest accomplishments are in reducing liberia’s national debt (which was eight times its GDP in 2007), and building roads (people in particular mention the road from the new airport, robertsfield, into town, which, i will say, by way of comparison, is better than any single road in nepal). perhaps the biggest change that I’ve heard described as i’ve talked with people over the last month i’ve been here is the change in the spirit of the country. the atmosphere of mistrust and trauma that would reasonably characterize any place that had the recent history liberia has, has largely been transformed into one of purpose and hope. people don’t desire or forsee a return to violence.
although sirleaf is wildly popular in international circles, opinion is more mixed among liberians. the most damning single criticism of sirleaf’s work as president is that she hasn’t done enough to tackle corruption; her term has been punctuated by corruption scandals, and, possibly as a result, she’s started to appoint individuals who some people feel are too close to her, personally. (i’m inclined to cut her some slack, given that she’s working against a century of a political and economic system based almost entirely on patronage networks, but, then, i’m not a voter, and i’ve only been here a month.)
additionally, there’s the issue of eligibility. although initially promising to sit for only one term, sirleaf decided to run again, angering many. she has also apologized for her early financial support of charles taylor, and actually discusses its circumstances at some length in her memoir. as a result of this support, the liberian TRC, which sirleaf commissioned, included her in a list of candidates ineligible for office. but, as blattman puts it, “look for inculpable politicians after 14 years of civil war, and you’ll find irrelevant expatriates,” but again, i’m not a voter (or a survivor of the conflict). however, neither her initial commitment to a single term, nor the TRC findings are binding, as would have been the constitutional clause requiring candidates to be residents in the country for ten years. in august, a referendum measure reducing the requirement from 10 years to 5 years failed to pass due to low voter turnout, and the supreme court threw out a challenge to the her candidacy, on the grounds that the writers of the constitution could not have foreseen the effects of the civil war.
although the court case has been portrayed as being beneficial to sirleaf alone, many of her sixteen fellow candidates would have potentially been disqualified as well. this would have included winston tubman, a equally highly educated former diplomat, and his wildly popular vice presidential candidate, footballer george weah, who, as a presidential candidate, actually won a plurality of the vote in 2005 before being beaten by sirleaf in the second round runoff. their party, the CDC, is particularly popular among young people, and there seems to be a perception of CDC supporters as “troublemakers” (well, according to those who aren’t CDC supporters... although there are lots of CDC supporters in my neighborhood, i haven’t seen any signs of trouble at our polling station all day).
it’s going to be a close race, and could easily go to a run off. regardless of who wins, it is going to be a vital subsequent six years for the country, and a fascinating time for an outside observer, like me, to be here.
now that the rain's stopped, my roomies and I are about to head downtown to check things out more. having a hard time getting my pictures off my camera and on to my computer, but i’ll try again later. in the mean time, check out my friend guarav’s photos from today at 6 months in liberia.
*with the exception of this, which, while cool, maybe not so much with the historical significance.
i would wager that this is a sight few people familiar with liberia imagined as plausible less than a decade ago. the polls in liberia’s second presidential election since the end of the civil war have been open for just about eight hours now, and although BBC is reporting long lines in some areas, there are no reports of major disturbances.
as a (ok, not so) quick background: following an unspeakably brutal civil conflict lasting for 14 years, liberians elected ellen johnson-sirleaf, a harvard educated banker and economist (and, as of last week, nobel prize winner) as africa’s first woman president. in the intervening six years, the country has made significant improvements in several areas. sirleaf’s greatest accomplishments are in reducing liberia’s national debt (which was eight times its GDP in 2007), and building roads (people in particular mention the road from the new airport, robertsfield, into town, which, i will say, by way of comparison, is better than any single road in nepal). perhaps the biggest change that I’ve heard described as i’ve talked with people over the last month i’ve been here is the change in the spirit of the country. the atmosphere of mistrust and trauma that would reasonably characterize any place that had the recent history liberia has, has largely been transformed into one of purpose and hope. people don’t desire or forsee a return to violence.
although sirleaf is wildly popular in international circles, opinion is more mixed among liberians. the most damning single criticism of sirleaf’s work as president is that she hasn’t done enough to tackle corruption; her term has been punctuated by corruption scandals, and, possibly as a result, she’s started to appoint individuals who some people feel are too close to her, personally. (i’m inclined to cut her some slack, given that she’s working against a century of a political and economic system based almost entirely on patronage networks, but, then, i’m not a voter, and i’ve only been here a month.)
additionally, there’s the issue of eligibility. although initially promising to sit for only one term, sirleaf decided to run again, angering many. she has also apologized for her early financial support of charles taylor, and actually discusses its circumstances at some length in her memoir. as a result of this support, the liberian TRC, which sirleaf commissioned, included her in a list of candidates ineligible for office. but, as blattman puts it, “look for inculpable politicians after 14 years of civil war, and you’ll find irrelevant expatriates,” but again, i’m not a voter (or a survivor of the conflict). however, neither her initial commitment to a single term, nor the TRC findings are binding, as would have been the constitutional clause requiring candidates to be residents in the country for ten years. in august, a referendum measure reducing the requirement from 10 years to 5 years failed to pass due to low voter turnout, and the supreme court threw out a challenge to the her candidacy, on the grounds that the writers of the constitution could not have foreseen the effects of the civil war.
although the court case has been portrayed as being beneficial to sirleaf alone, many of her sixteen fellow candidates would have potentially been disqualified as well. this would have included winston tubman, a equally highly educated former diplomat, and his wildly popular vice presidential candidate, footballer george weah, who, as a presidential candidate, actually won a plurality of the vote in 2005 before being beaten by sirleaf in the second round runoff. their party, the CDC, is particularly popular among young people, and there seems to be a perception of CDC supporters as “troublemakers” (well, according to those who aren’t CDC supporters... although there are lots of CDC supporters in my neighborhood, i haven’t seen any signs of trouble at our polling station all day).
it’s going to be a close race, and could easily go to a run off. regardless of who wins, it is going to be a vital subsequent six years for the country, and a fascinating time for an outside observer, like me, to be here.
now that the rain's stopped, my roomies and I are about to head downtown to check things out more. having a hard time getting my pictures off my camera and on to my computer, but i’ll try again later. in the mean time, check out my friend guarav’s photos from today at 6 months in liberia.
*with the exception of this, which, while cool, maybe not so much with the historical significance.
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