Economist Looks Certain to Win Liberian Election

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, all but assured of becoming Africa’s first elected female head of state in Liberia’s presidential vote, on Saturday rebuffed her opponent’s suggestions of fraud and laid out her priorities for governing the country.

With 97% of the vote counted, economist Johnson-Sirleaf had 59.4%, compared with 40.6% for her opponent, millionaire former soccer star George Weah, according to the National Electoral Commission.

Weah demanded a rerun of the poll Saturday, but won no support for his claims of fraud from international observers.

“It’s unfair to take this victory away from them, from the Liberian people,” an upbeat Johnson-Sirleaf said Saturday in an interview at her home, dismissing Weah’s claims.

The election was seen as free and fair by the U.N. mission in Liberia and international observers such as the European Union and Carter Center.

U.N. peacekeeping forces fired tear gas Friday to disperse several hundred Weah supporters near the U.S. Embassy, but after the candidate appealed for peace and calm on radio, protests by his supporters Saturday were more subdued and no trouble was reported

Johnson-Sirleaf, a Harvard graduate and former finance minister who also served with the World Bank, Citibank and the United Nations, blamed Weah for the protests that turned violent Friday. But she praised his radio appeals for peace.

After years of civil wars that destroyed the country’s infrastructure, Johnson-Sirleaf faces enormous challenges: meeting the population’s expectations for services such as electricity, water, education and health; dealing with the embittered young Weah voters who believe she stole the election; and preventing any new slide toward conflict.

She has called for the 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers to remain in Liberia for three to four more years.

Johnson-Sirleaf has promised a “government of inclusion,” and says she will offer jobs to Weah, perhaps as sports minister, and to some members of factions that took part in the civil wars.

“We will reach out to everyone,” Johnson-Sirleaf said. “Once the elections commission examines the evidence, I think things will calm down and I think he [Weah] too will get past his disappointment.”

She has promised to bring electricity to the capital within six months and a well or pump to every village within two years. But she said Saturday that she would initially concentrate on more pressing problems.

“Our first priority is to get the government functioning properly and get our financial house in order. Second is to respond to the youths and their issues,” she said.

In a country where many men oppose political leadership roles for women, a key part of Johnson-Sirleaf’s victory lay in a campaign in April and May to get women to register to vote. As she traveled around the country, she exhorted women to go to the polls and make history by voting for a woman, a campaign that struck a chord with many of them.

Johnson-Sirleaf’s outspoken approach has often landed her in trouble: She was jailed for criticizing the Liberian military regime of Samuel Doe and sentenced to prison for treason under former President Charles Taylor. She twice had to flee into exile.

In recent weeks, Johnson-Sirleaf traveled extensively in rural areas by helicopter, suggesting that Weah, who dropped out of high school, did not have the experience or qualifications to run the country.

Weah’s supporters, many of them young and unemployed, chanted, “No George, no peace,” during protests over the election result.

“If they want peace for us, we are calling on the international community to look into this fraud,” Dee Christopher Kamara, an unemployed 24-year-old Weah supporter, said Saturday.

But Weah’s chances of achieving a rerun of the poll appear slight, with no regional or international support for his claims.

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Times staff writer Robyn Dixon in Johannesburg, South Africa, contributed to this report.