It’s grand finale as Kenya and Liberia head for polls

A sign calling for peaceful elections in Monrovia on October 5, 2017. PHOTO | ZOOM DOSSO | AFP

What you need to know:

  • Amid fears of escalating violence, opposition leaders called for more protests against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission despite a government ban on demonstrations.

  • The chaos and instability surrounding the murky Kenyan election is in stark contrast to the situation in Liberia, which went to the polls on October 10.

In the relentless drama of the African electoral season, Kenya and Liberia are in the limelight as they prepare for new rounds of presidential races.

Amid the characteristically tumultuous Kenyan political landscape, the country is, ironically, expected to mark Heroes’ Day on October 20.

In the meantime, the opposition National Super Alliance announced on Tuesday its withdrawal from the repeat election, with the exit of its candidate Raila Odinga taking many by surprise.

Amid fears of escalating violence, opposition leaders called for more protests against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission despite a government ban on demonstrations.

Still, the repeat presidential election ordered by the Supreme Court following the annulment of the August 8 poll now looks like it will take place as planned.

CHAOS

The chaos and instability surrounding the murky Kenyan election is in stark contrast to the situation in Liberia, which went to the polls on October 10.

 The Tuesday election was expected to see the 2.1 million registered voters choosing a new president and 73 members of the national legislature.

According to official figures, just over a fifth of voters are aged 18 to 22, making the youth an important sway factor in the race.

That aside, the poll came after a sordid history of coups, civil wars, assassinations and exiled tyrants and  was expected to consolidate the 12 years of peace that marked the presidency of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Africa’s first female elected head of state is stepping aside after serving her maximum two terms, leaving compatriots to choose her successor from a crowded field of 20.

Ironically, only one of the candidates is a woman — and an unlikely one at that — fashion model-turned-humanitarian MacDella Cooper.

RESULTS

With the complete preliminary results expected any time, the certified ones are due by October 25 at the latest.

Whereas the first round of the election reportedly went well, early results suggested that a runoff of the contest was likely, as has been the case in the most recent polls in Liberia.

That prospect gained credence at the end of the week, when it became apparent that none of the two frontrunners was likely to garner the requisite 50-plus-one per cent tally required for a clear win.

The frontrunners are former soccer star George Weah, the presidential candidate of Congress for Democratic Change, who is battling it out with Vice-president Joseph Boakai.

Weah was for some years a striker for Paris St-Germain, Monaco and AC Milan football clubs, and was voted Fifa’s World Player of the Year in 1995.

He came second to Sirleaf in a 2005 election that ended years of the country’s two civil wars that killed hundreds of thousands of people.

PRESIDENTIAL RACE

Having served in the senate since 2014, Weah has taken an early lead in the presidential race alongside his running mate Jewel Howard-Taylor.

A surprising choice for a vice-presidential pick, the latter is the former wife of Liberian warlord Charles Taylor, who is serving a 50-year jail sentence imposed by the International Criminal Court in the Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Also in the presidential contest  is warlord-turned-evangelical preacher Prince Johnson, now a senator, who is running for president for the second time. Johnson was implicated in the brutal murder of dictator Samuel Kanyon Doe during the civil war.

Weah’s main opponent Boakai, is a former head of Liberia’s petroleum refinery company and agriculture minister who has served as vice-president under Sirleaf since 2006.

Based on returns from about a third of the country’s more than 5,000 polling stations, the National Electoral Commission said on Friday that Weah was clearly in the lead.

UNITY PARTY

Having obtained 39.6 per cent of the votes cast, he was significantly ahead of Boakai of the ruling Unity Party, whose tally stood at 31.1 per cent.

Charles Brumskine, a lawyer and long-time opposition figure, was by the end of Friday running third with 9.3 per cent, even as the position continued to be viewed as critical.

According to political analysts, whoever finally emerges third in the race would somehow become the “kingmaker” should the crowded presidential poll end in a runoff as widely expected.

ALEXANDER CUMMINGS

The other contender for the coveted position is former Coca-Cola executive and soft drinks millionaire Alexander Cummings, who is said to have eaten into the support base of Weah and the vice president. 

In a contest replete with the Mr Moneybag types, other wealthy candidates waiting in the wings include telecoms tycoon Benoni Urey and former central bank governor Mills Jones.

As for the politically wobbly Kenya, unlike the upbeat Liberia it will remain a nation badly in need of new celebrities even as it marks Heroes’ Day just six days to the election.