Tuesday dawned as bright as the hopes of the Liberian people. Hundreds slept on the streets of the capital, Monrovia, outside polling stations, anxious not to miss their first chance to vote since former warlord Charles Taylor cajoled and terrified his way into the presidency in 1997.
Two hours before the polls opened, some queues stretched around two sides of the block. ”This is D-Day, the day we’ve all been waiting for,” said 25-year-old Lamuel Vah, who works for local company Omuahtee African Media. ”The last ones were not for us, they were for themselves. Now, after years of devastating war, it is time for a change.”
Decades of widespread corruption and 14 years of sporadic war have robbed this country of its chance to develop. There has been no running water or electricity since the beginning of the war; the education system is in terminal decline after teachers fled or were killed and schools were looted; and unemployment stands at 85%. A peace deal signed in 2003 pushed Taylor into exile and incorporated the members of the warring factions into a transitional government. Many say the price of peace was simply two more years of legally sanctioned looting.
Two years ago, Tubmanburg was the headquarters for the biggest rebel group fighting Liberia’s civil war. The buildings are still pockmarked with bullet holes and rebel graffiti is scrawled across the front of shops. But, on Tuesday, former fighters such as Harry Gaye were patiently waiting to cast their ballots.
”Since 2000, I’ve been with the Lurd [Liberians United For Reconciliation And Democracy]. There are many of us here today,” he said, gesturing to the long lines of people. ”But if Charles Taylor comes back, the fighting will be more than before.”
Taylor’s freedom is one big cloud on the horizon. His wife, former son-in-law and ex-general are all running for government positions, and United Nations security reports have indicated that he is in frequent contact with members of the current government.
Even in his former rebel headquarters of Gbarnga, which has been looted so many times that people have taken to tying individual roof tiles to their houses, the former warlord still commands widespread support.
Diplomats worry that, if no candidate secures a 51% majority and there is a second round of voting, there will be a flurry of behind-the-scenes deal-making that could undermine any new government. ”Taylor’s party knows they will not get the presidency,” said one. ”But they are trying to seize control of the legislature.” They fear a repeat of last week’s scene in which nominally independent candidate Edwin Snowe, the current managing director of the Liberian Petroleum Refining Company, threw his weight behind a presidential bid by Dr Roland Massaquoi, the candidate fielded by Taylor’s old backers, the National Patriotic Party. Snowe, who was once married to Taylor’s daughter, is currently under a UN travel ban.
Funding shortfalls are holding up the disarmament programme and there is widespread diamond smuggling — traditionally a source of funding for both Taylor and his enemies. Renewed reports of recruitment for cross-border militias in the north of the country are mirroring the increasing instability in neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire.
On Tuesday in Monrovia, many people waited more than 11 hours to cast their ballot. No major irregularities were reported, and even the head of the transitional government, Gyude Bryant, was refused a vote when he realised he had flown across the country without his voter’s registration card.
For a country that has lost 250 000 of its citizens to war, and where former rebels rub shoulders with their victims in the queues, the scenes at the polling stations have been peaceful and orderly. After decades of corruption and years of civil war, Liberians have finally cast their votes and are crossing their ink-stained fingers.