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GV EXT People outside polling station
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CU Election poster "United we Stand behind T. & T."
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SV Tubman arrives at polling station
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SV Mrs. Tubman casts vote
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SV President Tubman casts vote
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SV Other people cast votes (2 shots)
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GV EXT Polling station
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SV President & Mrs. Tubman leave polling station and supporters applaud.
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SV President's car with escort leaving (3 shots)
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Initials BB/2309 LD/AS/BB/2325



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: After a day of heavy voting (Tuesday, May 4) throughout Liberia to elect a President and seventy-one Senators and Representatives, the incumbent President Dr. William Tubman was re-elected for a seventh consecutive term. Also re-elected, Vice-President Dr. William Tolbert, Jr. All the candidates standing for election belong to the TrueWhig Party which has ruled Liberia for more than a century.

Seventy-five-year-old Dr. Tubman, who first came to power in 1944, had earlier this year indicated that he wished to stand down from his office--but, it is reported, he has accepted the mandate again because of his "love for his fellow citizens and his dedication to their development and advancement."
An interesting point arising out of the current elections is that for the first time since the country's Independence in 1847, there are more candidates of tribal descent standing for election to the Legislature than there are descendants of "Americo-Liberians". The latter--descendants of Negroes who settled in Liberia under United States protection early in the 19th Century--have traditionally dominated the country's political scene. But, in this week's elections, there are 38 candidates from local tribes.

SYNOPSIS: A record turnout of voters in Liberia for the national elections on Tuesday, May 4th. Few people doubted the re-election of President Tubman and Vice-President Tolbert -- the T. and T. of the poster.

An early afternoon voter in Monrovia was President Dr. William Tubman himself. All the candidates for the Presidency, Vice-Presidency and seventy-one Senate and Representative seats, were from the True Whig Party which has ruled Liberia for more than a Century.

Mrs. Antoinette Tubman accompanied her husband and cast her vote in the Congotown booth in the suburbs of the Capital.

By the time the votes were counted in the evening, Dr. Tubman had been re-elected for the seventh consecutive term, with a total of seven hundred and fourteen thousand votes in his favour--that is two-thirds of the total population of the country. Also re-elected on the same ballot, was Vice-President Dr. William Tolbert junior.

Traditionally, since Independence in 1847, Liberia's Legislature has always been dominated by Americo-Liberians--that is to say descendants of Negroes who settled in the country under United States protection early in the nineteenth century. This year, however, for the first time in history, there are more candidates from local tribes than there are Americo-Liberians. (PAUSE FIVE SECONDS) Seventy-five-year-old Dr. Tubman--who first came to power in 1944--had earlier this year indicated that he wished to stand down from office. But, it is reported, he has accepted the new mandate again after constant and persistent petitions from all over the country, and because--in his own words--"of his love for his fellow citizens and his dedication to their development and advancement."
After voting, Dr. and Mrs. Tubman drove off amid cheerful supporters. Earlier in the day the Head of State and his family had toured several polling stations throughout the Capital and the surrounding area. Finally, they returned to the Presidential residence, where they awaited the results which were announced just before midnight. And so Dr. Tubman prepared to take up the reins of State for a further four-year term of office.