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    November 08, 2011

Liberian President Set to Win Runoff Vote

   VOA News
   A woman casts her vote for president at a polling station in the
   Paynesville neighborhood of Monrovia, Liberia, November 8, 2011.
   A woman casts her vote for president at a polling station in the
   Paynesville neighborhood of Monrovia, Liberia, November 8, 2011.

   Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is poised to win re-election
   in a runoff vote that has been marred by an opposition boycott and a
   deadly clash between police and protesters.
   Former justice minister Winston Tubman, the president's challenger in
   Tuesday's election, has called on his supporters to boycott the poll
   because of alleged electoral fraud favoring Johnson Sirleaf.
   Small lines of voters were reported after the polls opened.
   Violence erupted in the capital, Monrovia, Monday outside the
   headquarters for Tubman's Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) party,
   where riots between Liberian police and opposition protesters killed at
   least one person.
   President Johnson Sirleaf has said Tubman's boycott violates the
   country's constitution and laws, and imperils Liberia's future.
   Tubman, who has called for the election to be postponed, says Liberians
   have the right to abstain from voting as an expression of their
   displeasure with the government.
   During Monday's violence, police fired tear gas at hundreds of
   rock-throwing supporters of Tubman.
   A VOA correspondent on the scene said that at one point, U.N.
   peacekeepers charged with securing the scene took defensive positions
   against Liberian riot police.
   Witnesses said guns were fired, but it was not clear who may have fired
   them.
   Members of Tubman's party say several other people were killed in the
   clashes, but this could not be confirmed.
   U.S. President Barack Obama said the international community will hold
   accountable those who choose to obstruct Liberia's democratic process.
   He also encouraged security forces in Liberia to exercise maximum
   restraint and allow peaceful protests.
   Election observers said the first round of voting was generally free
   and fair.
   President Johnson Sirleaf defeated Tubman in the first round, 44 to 32
   percent, short of the majority required for an outright victory. The
   third-place finisher in the initial vote has announced support for
   Johnson Sirleaf, who won the Nobel Peace prize this year for helping
   Liberia recover from a brutal civil war.
   This is Liberia's second presidential election since the end of the
   civil war in 2003.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.

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