Liberians lined up at polling stations across the country for a runoff election between a former international football star and the vice-president. The winner will replace Africa’s first female head of state.

For the first time in more than 70 years, the West African nation founded by freed American slaves will see one democratically elected government hand power to another.

Nearly 2.2 million voters will choose between George Weah, a 51-year-old former AC Milan striker who is now a senator, and 73-year-old Joseph Boakai, who has been vice-president for 12 years.

Nobel peace prize winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, 79, is stepping down after two terms in office that brought the impoverished country out of back-to-back civil wars. She also led the country as it grappled with a deadly Ebola outbreak.

The runoff has been delayed twice after being contested in court amid claims of irregularities, with its original 7 November date put back.

High numbers turned out to vote in the first round on 10 October, and officials hope for the same on Tuesday. The National Elections Commission said voter lists have been cleaned up according to orders from the supreme court. They have been posted at all 5,390 polling stations.

Many people showed up before the sun rose. In the New Georgia township west of the capital, Monrovia, voters used flashlights to check for their names.

“We need a leader who will move the country forward, not backward,” said 32-year-old Samuka Donzo, who sat in line in a classroom chair. “Liberia is too hard now; we need a leader who will make things cheaper so that we don’t have to continue to rely on neighboring countries for basic commodities.”

A fish seller, Siami Morris, also arrived early. “This election is important because we want somebody who will properly man this country,” she said. “This is why when the process was being delayed with people going to court and coming back, it was to me like a piece of war.”

This is Liberia’s first independently run election since the end of its civil wars. The UN has helped to oversee past votes.

On Monday, NEC spokesman Henry Flomo told the Associated Press that it was “fully prepared” for the election. “We only hope that Liberians will turn out,” he said.

Source: AP