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Liberia – Presidential Election Candidates

Liberia – Presidential Election Candidates The most high‐profile contenders were as follows:Joseph Boakai – Unity Party (UP): Sirleaf's vice president since 2005, Boakai presents himself as the natural transition after helping to ensure 12 years of peace in Liberia.As an indigenous Liberian, as opposed to the Americo‐Liberian elite descended from freed slaves, Boakai presents himself as an everyman who transcended his humble beginnings.Alexander Cummings – Alternative National Congress (ANC): Soft drinks millionaire Cummings, 60, has spent his working life outside Liberia, holding various positions with the Coca‐Cola Corporation in the US and Nigeria and rising to the position of Executive Vice‐President before retiring to concentrate on politics in 2016.Cummings became the political leader of the ANC in 2015, and is widely admired for holding a top position in a multinational company and for his significant financial clout.By staying out of Liberian politics during the 1989‐2003 civil war and its difficult aftermath, Cummings is relatively free of political baggage.George Weah – Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC): Weah, 50, remains one of Liberia's most high‐profile citizens 15 years after his football career ended.The first African player to win both FIFA's World Player of the Year and the Ballon d'Or, Weah was largely absent from Liberia during the civil war years, playing for a string of top‐flight European teams.After running unsuccessfully for the presidency in 2005, when he was defeated by Sirleaf, Weah says he has “gained experience” since founding his own political party in 2004 and becoming a senator in 2014.Weah's vice‐presidential pick is Charles Taylor's ex‐wife, Jewel Howard‐Taylor, a respected senator in her own right, who along with Sirleaf is one of few powerful women in Liberian public life.Benoni Urey – All Liberian Party (ALP): Urey, a 60‐year‐old telecoms tycoon, has never held elected office but he hopes his record of job creation and entrepreneurship in founding Liberia's largest mobile network, Lonestar, will attract significant votes.MacDella Cooper – Liberia Restoration Party (LRP): The sole female candidate is Cooper, a 40‐year‐old fashion model‐turned‐humanitarian who spent her childhood in Côte d'Ivoire and the US after fleeing the civil war as a refugee.Charles Brumskine – Liberty Party (LP): Brumskine has lost to Sirleaf twice before, in 2005 and 2011, and is seen as the establishment opposition candidate as standard‐bearer for the LP for the third time.Respected for standing up to Charles Taylor as a senator by declaring the ex‐dictator's government should be investigated for involvement in the civil war in Sierra Leone, Brumskine is now a lawyer.Prince Johnson – Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction (MDR): Johnson – a one‐time rebel fighter filmed drinking beer during the murder of former president Samuel Doe in 1990 – is the most notorious name among the candidates.Now better known in Liberia as an evangelical preacher, Johnson came third in the 2011 presidential vote behind Weah and Sirleaf. (© AFP 8/10 2017) http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series Wiley

Liberia – Presidential Election Candidates

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Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
ISSN
0001-9844
eISSN
1467-825X
DOI
10.1111/j.1467-825X.2017.07926.x
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The most high‐profile contenders were as follows:Joseph Boakai – Unity Party (UP): Sirleaf's vice president since 2005, Boakai presents himself as the natural transition after helping to ensure 12 years of peace in Liberia.As an indigenous Liberian, as opposed to the Americo‐Liberian elite descended from freed slaves, Boakai presents himself as an everyman who transcended his humble beginnings.Alexander Cummings – Alternative National Congress (ANC): Soft drinks millionaire Cummings, 60, has spent his working life outside Liberia, holding various positions with the Coca‐Cola Corporation in the US and Nigeria and rising to the position of Executive Vice‐President before retiring to concentrate on politics in 2016.Cummings became the political leader of the ANC in 2015, and is widely admired for holding a top position in a multinational company and for his significant financial clout.By staying out of Liberian politics during the 1989‐2003 civil war and its difficult aftermath, Cummings is relatively free of political baggage.George Weah – Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC): Weah, 50, remains one of Liberia's most high‐profile citizens 15 years after his football career ended.The first African player to win both FIFA's World Player of the Year and the Ballon d'Or, Weah was largely absent from Liberia during the civil war years, playing for a string of top‐flight European teams.After running unsuccessfully for the presidency in 2005, when he was defeated by Sirleaf, Weah says he has “gained experience” since founding his own political party in 2004 and becoming a senator in 2014.Weah's vice‐presidential pick is Charles Taylor's ex‐wife, Jewel Howard‐Taylor, a respected senator in her own right, who along with Sirleaf is one of few powerful women in Liberian public life.Benoni Urey – All Liberian Party (ALP): Urey, a 60‐year‐old telecoms tycoon, has never held elected office but he hopes his record of job creation and entrepreneurship in founding Liberia's largest mobile network, Lonestar, will attract significant votes.MacDella Cooper – Liberia Restoration Party (LRP): The sole female candidate is Cooper, a 40‐year‐old fashion model‐turned‐humanitarian who spent her childhood in Côte d'Ivoire and the US after fleeing the civil war as a refugee.Charles Brumskine – Liberty Party (LP): Brumskine has lost to Sirleaf twice before, in 2005 and 2011, and is seen as the establishment opposition candidate as standard‐bearer for the LP for the third time.Respected for standing up to Charles Taylor as a senator by declaring the ex‐dictator's government should be investigated for involvement in the civil war in Sierra Leone, Brumskine is now a lawyer.Prince Johnson – Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction (MDR): Johnson – a one‐time rebel fighter filmed drinking beer during the murder of former president Samuel Doe in 1990 – is the most notorious name among the candidates.Now better known in Liberia as an evangelical preacher, Johnson came third in the 2011 presidential vote behind Weah and Sirleaf. (© AFP 8/10 2017)

Journal

Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series – Wiley

Published: Jan 1, 2017

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