After weeks of wheeling and dealing, members of the Senate and the House of Representatives will elect new leaderships today.

The Senate race will be between two archrivals—the ruling Unity Party (UP) and Mr. Charles Taylor’s now paralyzed National Patriotic Party (NPP), with his estranged wife, Mrs. Jewel Howard Taylor, as a contender against UP’s Gbehzohngar Milton Findley.

Critics say Mrs. Taylor, on UN travel ban, will face re-election within 3 years, while the Senate Pro-Tempore is elected for every 6 years, making her ineligible for election.

Incumbent President Pro tempore Cletus S. Wotorson, although undergoing medical treatment abroad is reportedly backing Senator Findley as well. Sen. Clarice Jah of Margibi who initially declared her intention for the position, bowed out last week reducing the race to two, pitting Grand Bassa Senator Gbehzohngar Milton Findley against Bong County Senator Jewel Howard Taylor.

The race for the Speaker of the House will be between current Speaker and ruling Unity Party stalwart Alex Tyler and Prince Johnson’s National Union for Democratic Progress (NUDP), with in-coming Representative Ricks Yeah Toweh (NUDP - Nimba County) challenging Mr. Tyler.

Other positions are also at stake. Lofa County Rep. Eugene Fallah Kparkar of the Liberty Party (LP) and Maryland Rep. Bhofal Chambers of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) will be on the heels of incumbent Deputy Speaker Tokpah J. Mulbah of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC).

Informed sources told this paper that incumbent Speaker Tyler, camped for almost a week in Bomi County, mobilizing chiefs and elders to prevail on President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf during a visit to her hometown in Bomi County. Mr. Tyler is beefed-up by dismissed former Speaker Edwin Snowe and many old hands expected to be appointed on lucrative House committees if he wins.

At a December 18 meeting, the chiefs and elders of Bomi pleaded with President Sirleaf to support Alex Tyler, “their son” in his second-term bid, our sources said.

According to chiefs and elders, they still had confidence in Tyler’s ability to head the House of Representatives, saying that in as much as they gave her their support for her second-term bid, it was her time to reciprocate. Tyler was then instructed by the chiefs and elders to go before the President and bow down to manifest his request.

The President is said to have assured the Bomi chiefs and elders that she would do everything possible for Tyler’s re-election as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, at a meeting held into the late hours Saturday night at the Capitol, 13 of those supporting Nimba Rep. Ricks Toweh are said to have jumped ship into the Tyler Camp.

Incumbent CDC Deputy Speaker Mulbah was told bluntly, according to sources, that he should not even attempt to enter the race as the party would be throwing its weight behind Maryland Rep. Chambers.