Vote counting has begun in Liberia following a peaceful run-off election for a new president on Tuesday, pitting former international footballer George Weah against Vice-President Joseph Boakai.
Wikimedia Commons
Voters have chosen a successor to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who is stepping down after 12 years as Africa's first elected female head of state.
Results are expected in a few days, in what would be the West African country's first democratic transition since 1944, according to electoral officials.
The ballot was delayed for seven weeks due to legal challenges lodged by Boakai's Unity Party against the electoral commission over the conduct of the first round of voting, but many of the complaints appeared to have been addressed in the second round.
The Liberia Elections Observation Network, which had more than 1,000 observers stationed across the country, hailed a vote it said had passed calmly with better organisation than the first poll on October 10, as did observers from the European Union.
Former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, who served as an electoral observer for the US-based National Democratic Institute (NDI), said a successful resolution to the process was of particular importance within the international community.
"This transition is critical and if we succeed, if Liberia succeeds, West Africa succeeded and Africa succeeded," he said.
"There has been no major incident to report of a technical nature and the voting was peaceful," noted electoral commission chief Francis Korkoya.
However, with the vote held the day after Christmas, some national and international observers warned that turnout may have been affected.
As Liberia's most famous son, Weah attracts huge crowds and has a faithful youth following in a country where a fifth of the electorate is aged between 18 and 22. But he has been criticised for his performance in the Senate, where he has served since 2014.
Weah, 51, starred in top-flight European football teams Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan in the 1990s before playing briefly for Chelsea and Manchester City later in his career.
His rival, Boakai, 73, is seen as a continuity candidate and has won praise for his years of public service and image as a corruption-free family man, while fending off allegations he failed to tackle poverty while in government.
