Liberia heads into the poll on Tuesday to choose between former football star George Weah and current Vice President Joseph Boakai as their new president, in a vote that analysts say is too close to call.
Official campaigns closed on Sunday with both candidates promising economic revival and jobs creation.
After seven weeks of delays caused by legal challenges against the country’s electoral commission lodged by Boakai’s party, polling stations will open at 8:00 am (0800 GMT) for the West African nation’s 2.1 million voters.
Weah won nearly 40 percent of votes in the first round 10 more points ahead of his rival. A run-off was then declared after none of the candidates failed to win an outright majority.
Boakai then accused the NEC of fraud and incompetence grave enough to have affected the vote, delaying proceedings while the complaints were analysed by the Supreme Court. His party’s arguments were ultimately rejected.
President Jonhson Sirleaf is stepping down after her 12-year rule as Africa’s first elected female leader.
This will represent Liberia’s only democratic transfer of power since 1944.
Trucks filled with voting materials were escorted by police around the capital Monrovia on Monday, after leaving the offices of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), which has rushed to clean the national voter register to avoid allegations of fraud.
“For three days now I have not closed my eyes. We are making sure that nothing goes wrong because this election is a crucial one,” a stressed-looking policeman told AFP.
George Weah, the only son of the African soil to win the Ballon d’Or has attracted huge crowds and has a faithful youth following in a country where a fifth of the electorate is aged 18 to 22, but he is criticised for his long absences from the Senate, where he has served since 2014.
Weah’s endorsement by warlord-turned-preacher Prince Johnson, who is extremely popular in the populous county of Nimba, may boost his chances, while he was pictured at a public event with Sirleaf on Thursday, heightening speculation a feud with Boakai has pushed her to support his opponent.
“You know I’ve been in competitions — tough ones too and I came out victorious. So I know Boakai cannot defeat me,” Weah told AFP on Saturday. “I have the people on my side.”
Vice President Boakai meanwhile is seen as a continuity candidate and has won praise for his public service stretching back four decades, when many elites fled Liberia for the United States.
Boakai said Sunday he was “very, very confident” of winning, telling AFP: “Victory is mine”.
While ordinary Liberians are grateful peace has held through Sirleaf’s two terms in office, living standards remain dire for most.
She guided the nation out of ruin following back-to-back 1989-2003 civil wars and through the horrors of the 2014-16 Ebola crisis, but is accused of failing to combat poverty and tackle corruption.
Both issues have been a focus of the campaign, giving Boakai a difficult path to tread after serving at her side.
