Liberia president extends lead, short of vote majority

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who is also Liberia's president and presidential candidate of the Unity Party (UP), arrives to vote at the polling station in Feefee in Bomi County October 11, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Luc Gnago

By Richard Valdmanis

MONROVIA | Fri Oct 14, 2011 5:52pm EDT

MONROVIA (Reuters) - President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has extended her lead in Liberia's election but remains short of the outright majority required for a first-round win, according to the latest batch of results announced by the election commission on Friday.

The newly named Nobel peace laureate now leads with 45.4 percent of the votes in the West African state's second presidential vote since its civil war, up from 44.5 percent in results on Thursday and ahead of closest rival Winston Tubman, now on 29.5 percent, according to the results.

"A little more than half the ballots have been counted, we're just past the halfway mark," NEC Chairman James Fromayah told a press conference, adding that full results were likely to be ready before an October 26 deadline.

"We will definitely finish ahead of schedule."

The election is Liberia's first locally-organized poll since an on-and-off 1989-2003 conflict, and if smooth could pave the way for billions of dollars in mining and oil investment.

A run-off will take place in early November if no candidate secures more than 50 percent of the vote.

Former rebel leader Prince Johnson was in third place with 11.4 percent of the nearly 600,000 valid votes counted, the NEC said, most of which came from his bastion of minerals-rich Nimba County -- Liberia's second most populous of 15 counties.

Johnson told Reuters in an interview on Friday that he would welcome a "kingmaker" role if there were a run-off between Johnson-Sirleaf and Tubman, adding that he would negotiate for key government posts for his party and seek to change the minerals revenue management law.

Turnout at the polling stations counted so far has averaged 70.2 percent, the NEC said. Liberia has about 1.8 million registered voters.

The counting from Montserrado, Liberia's biggest county that includes the capital, Monrovia, has been coming in slowly, drawing criticism from Tubman's CDC party, which claims it as one of their strongholds. The CDC said it has also filed a formal complaint with the NEC over allegations that electoral officials secretly opened at least three sealed ballot boxes.

Johnson-Sirleaf went into the vote as the favorite but Tubman, whose running mate is former soccer star George Weah, has sought to tap into simmering frustrations, especially among Liberian youth.

Although Liberia has seen increasing investment and has managed to convince donors to waive billions of dollars in debt, many residents say progress has been too slow and complain of a lack of basic services, high food prices, rampant crime and corruption.

(Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Career Advisor

News

Read More

French left seizes Senate majority, hurts Sarkozy

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

French President Nicolas Sarkozy attends a ceremony commemorating the Harkis, Algerian soldiers loyal to the French during the Algerian war, at the Invalides in Paris, September 25, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Philippe Wojazer

By Sophie Louet

PARIS | Mon Sep 26, 2011 3:32am EDT

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative government lost its majority in the Senate to the left on Sunday, officials said, in a historic defeat that deals him a blow just seven months before a presidential election.

For the first time since 1958, the right-dominated upper house swung to a left-wing majority as the body's membership underwent a major generational change of guard.

Early results from the indirect elections showed left-wing candidates took at least 23 seats from the ruling conservative party, securing them an absolute majority.

The shift to the left, which UMP Senate leader Gerard Larcher had described as having "seismic" consequences ahead of a presidential election next April, drew howls of joy from left-wing supporters at a meeting in Paris.

"The 25th of September, 2011, will go down in history," Jean-Pierre Bel, head of the Socialist group in the Senate, said on LCI television. "The results of this Senate election represent a real comeuppance for the right."

The left's victory followed a series of wins by Socialist candidates in local elections in the same regions where tens of thousands of municipal officials -- empowered as so-called "super voters" in the Senate poll -- cast votes on Sunday.

SYMBOLIC SETBACK

A left-leaning Senate will not be able to derail Sarkozy's legislative plans but the loss of a longstanding bastion for the right is a symbolic setback especially when taken together with his persistently poor poll ratings.

Sarkozy has become slightly more popular in the past few months, but he remains one of the least well-liked presidents in post-war France and faces a tough battle for reelection in a two-round vote scheduled for next April.

French voters are depressed about their economic prospects, unemployment remains stubbornly high and a European debt crisis has invited intensive scrutiny of France's public finances.

Such worries have overshadowed Sarkozy's foreign policy victories, notably France's role in the toppling of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon said the result was a result of divisions in the ruling camp.

"Today, the opposition has shown strong progress in the Senate, underscored by divisions in the ruling camp in several regions," he said in a statement.

"The moment of truth will come next spring. Tonight, the battle begins, and the results of this Senate election show us what sort of effort we will have to produce."

Government spokeswoman Valerie Pecresse pointed out that the right retained a majority in the National Assembly.

"This is in no way a point of blockage for the government because, as you know, it's the National Assembly that has the last word," she said.

Sarkozy, in the final months of his term, faces a tough battle for reelection against Francois Hollande, the most likely Socialist candidate.

"This victory creates a dynamic ... If we could win the presidency of the republic after winning the presidency of the Senate, that would be a good," Hollande said on LCI television.

There is no major legislation outstanding that a left-wing Senate could delay, but losing his majority there would bury Sarkozy's grand plan to get a budget-balancing debt rule written into the French constitution, a measure that could have been an anchor for France's AAA-rating.

Parliament already has approved an adjustment to the 2011 budget bill to incorporate a bigger bailout for Greece as agreed by euro zone states on July 21, and the 2012 budget bill should pass without hitches.

Of the 170 seats up for grabs in the election, the UMP had 147 seats out of a total 343 to the Socialist Party's 115 before Sunday's vote. Final results are expected later on Sunday.

The number of seats in the upper chamber will be increased on Sunday to 348, reflecting a rise in the population.

Sarkozy is expected to announce sometime in November that he will run for a second term in next April's election.

(Reporting by Catherine Bremer, Nicholas Vinocur, Emile Picy and Sophie Louet; Writing by Nicholas Vinocur; Editing by Sophie Hares)

View the original article here

Peliculas Online

Read More