Liberia’s electoral authorities have said that 20 candidates will be in the running to replace President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in polls that are scheduled for October.
The country’s National Elections Commission also said that it had certified 986 candidates standing for the West African nation of 4.6 million’s House of Representatives, which has 73 seats.
Former Football world player of the year George Weah will run for the presidency again in the poll, while the ruling Unity Party will be represented by Joseph Boakai, current vice-president of Liberia.
Weah ran unsuccessfully for president in the 2005 election, losing to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in the second round of voting. In the 2011 election, he ran for vice president on Winston Tubman’s ticket. Running as a Congress for Democratic Change candidate, Weah was elected to the Senate in 2014.
Outgoing President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is serving as the country’s 24th leader, and has been in the position since 2006.
She is the first elected female head of state in Africa.
Liberia has a population of more than 4.6 million people, with the number of registered voters being close to 2 million.
