Long queues as polling stations open in Liberia

Polls opened in Liberia on Tuesday in an election which will be analysed by many as a test of the west African nation's fragile democracy.

Reuters/Luc Gnago

"All the voting places have been opened at eight o'clock, there are no reports of delays yet and no reports of incidents but the day is still long so we are waiting to hear from our stations in other parts of the country," National Elections Commission spokesman Bobby Livingstone said.

Long queues were seen at polling stations in the capital, Monrovia, as voters waited
from early morning in the rain to cast their ballots.

The elections are the first since President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf made history when she became Africa's first female president in 2005 elections, shortly after the country emerged from a long and brutal war which left some 250,000 dead.

The 2011 joint Nobel Peace Prize winner is facing a stiff challenge from main opposition candidate Winston Tubman, who has crowd-pleasing football star George Weah as his running mate.

Some 1.8 million people have registered to vote in presidential, legislative and senatorial elections which its hoped will signal to much-needed investors that the country has been able to consolidate its peace.