Taylor's former party backs Liberia opposition ahead of vote

The political party founded by Liberian ex-president and warlord Charles Taylor 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.