Liberia lines up for round two

A former Liberian warlord described President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as “the lesser of two evils” in announcing his decision to back her in Liberia’s second round runoff election, after no candidate got more than half the votes required for an outright win.

With nearly all the votes counted, Johnson Sirleaf has a lead of 44 percent, with Winston Tubman in second place with 32 percent and Prince Johnson — the notorious ex-rebel leader — in third place with 12 percent. A runoff is set for Nov. 8.

Johnson has made much of his default role as a power broker and crowed to the press about being Liberia’s “kingmaker.”

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After an abortive threat to pull out of Liberia’s second round of elections citing fraud, Tubman has confirmed he will in fact take part alongside his ex-soccer player running-mate George Weah.

Weah and Sirleaf fought it out in a bitter and occasionally violent runoff in 2005, so this year looks like an almost-repeat, except for the presence of Tubman who plays the senior statesman to Weah’s crowd-pleasing populist.

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In one interview Johnson explained his decision to back Sirleaf’s Unity Party (UP) rather than Tubman’s Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) in self-serving terms, saying he hoped to avoid being punished for any past misdeeds.

Johnson and Sirleaf were both named by the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as being unfit for office.

"I have decided to join [Sirleaf’s] Unity Party because the CDC officials have said that they will do everything to implement the TRC recommendations … I prefer dealing with Ellen Johnson Sirleaf who is also indicted by the TRC,” Johnson said.