Charles Brumskine

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Charles Walker Brumskine (born 27 April 1951) is a Liberian politician.

Brumskine became politically prominent in the 1990s as an ally of Charles Taylor. When Taylor became President in 1997, Brumskine became President Pro Tem of the Senate. By 1999, however, they began feuding, and Brumskine fled the country after being threatened by Taylor's supporters. He returned to Liberia when Taylor was overthrown in 2003.

In 2004, Brumskine began campaigning for the 2005 presidential elections in Liberia, as a member of the Liberal, or Liberty Party. Like most of the other candidates, he promised to bring reconciliation to the country following its political turmoil, and improve the economy and infrastructure. What made him unique was the strong religious message in his campaign. Brumskine, a born-again Christian believed that God wanted him and his party to win the elections, and that he would win with a majority in the first round. Most analysts, however, predicted that he would come in third place. This is, in fact, what happened. He received nearly 14% of the vote, 6% less than the second-place candidate, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, and therefore he was not able to participate in the runoff.^[1] He contested the results of the elections, becoming the only candidate to do so. He did not endorse Sirleaf or her opponent, George Weah in the runoff, though if he had, with his large minority of support he could have been influential in the outcome of the runoff, which Sirleaf won.

[edit] References

1. ^ Elections in Liberia, African Elections Database.