[ 2011-08-05 ]

Taylor's former party backs Liberia opposition
MONROVIA (AFP) - The political party founded by
Liberian ex-president and warlord Charles Taylor
on Friday endorsed the main opposition challenging
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in October polls.

The National Patriotic Party (NPP) said in a press
release that it had voted to support the
opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC),
rather than Sirleaf's Unity Party, which it backed
in 2005 presidential elections.

Both parties had lobbied for the NPP's support,
but spokesman Gus Knolden said "the propositions
from the CDC were best."

The west African nation, still recovering from a
devastating 1989-2003 civil war, is scheduled to
go to vote on October 11.

But the election could be pushed to November 8
following an August 23 referendum on
constitutional reform.

Sirleaf, 72, is seeking a second term and will
face off against the CDC's Winston Tubman, who
beat out football legend George Weah, a former AC
Milan and Chelsea striker, to become the party's
flagbearer.

The NPP, which won 4.1 percent of votes in 2005
polls, is one of several opposition parties which
have joined with the CDC ahead of the election.

The party was formed in 1997 following the end of
the first Liberian war, and Taylor won elections
that year with 75 percent of votes.

Taylor's ex-wife, Jewel Taylor, is the current
party chairman.

Opposition to Taylor's regime led to another
outbreak of war in 1999, and he stepped down under
pressure in 2003, the year he was also charged for
war crimes over his role in a civil war in
neighbouring Sierra Leone.

He is currently waiting judgement in The Hague.

Source - AFP

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