{"id":427183,"date":"2017-10-10T08:40:19","date_gmt":"2017-10-10T08:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2017\/10\/10\/liberians-go-to-the-polls-today\/"},"modified":"2017-10-10T08:40:19","modified_gmt":"2017-10-10T08:40:19","slug":"liberians-go-to-the-polls-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/10\/10\/liberians-go-to-the-polls-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberians go to the polls today"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Liberians are set to go to the polls to choose a successor to Africa\u2019s first elected female president and Nobel Peace laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.<\/p>\n<p>Ex-football star George Weah and Vice-President Joseph Boakai are the main contenders in the race to succeed her.<\/p>\n<p>Liberia, founded by freed US slaves in the 19th Century, has not had a smooth transfer of power in 73 years.<\/p>\n<p>Ms Sirleaf urged people to vote peacefully in a nation still recovering from a 14-year civil war.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour vote is about you and your family \u2013 not party, ethnicity,\u201d she said in an address to the nation.<\/p>\n<p>A total of 20 presidential candidates are running to succeed Ms Sirleaf.<\/p>\n<p>They include Alex Cummings, a former Coca-Cola executive, and MacDella Cooper, an ex-model and girlfriend of Mr Weah.<\/p>\n<p>Ms Sirleaf, 78, is stepping down at the end of her two terms.<\/p>\n<p>She took office in 2006, after her predecessor, Charles Taylor, was forced out of office by rebels in 2003.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor is currently serving a 50-year prison sentence in the UK for war crimes related to the conflict in neighbouring Sierra Leone.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Weah, 51, has chosen Taylor\u2019s ex-wife Jewel Howard Taylor as his running mate.<\/p>\n<p>This is the former footballer of the year\u2019s third attempt to become president.<\/p>\n<p>Ms Sirleaf has failed to campaign for Mr Boakai, fuelling speculation that the two have fallen out.<\/p>\n<p>Supporters of Mr Boakai, 72, are campaigning under the slogan: \u201cOur ma [Ms Sirleaf] spoil it, our pa will fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Almost 2.2 million people are registered to vote in the election.<\/p>\n<p>Parliamentary elections are also due to be held at the same time.<\/p>\n<p>Campaigning has been dominated by promises to tackle poverty, corruption, and guarantee stability in the West African state.<\/p>\n<p>Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world, with more than 50% of people living in poverty.<\/p>\n<p>It was one of three West African states badly hit by the 2014-15 Ebola outbreak which left more than 11,300 people dead.<\/p>\n<p>Source: BBC<\/p>\n<div class=\"bsac bsac-clearfix bsac-post-bottom bsac-float-center bsac-align-center bsac-column-1\">\n<div id=\"bsac-268370-1709457196\" class=\"bsac-container bsac-type-image \" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/WPAdBlock\" data-adid=\"268370\" data-type=\"image\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"bsac-image\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/starrwoman_posts.jpg\" alt=\"Starr Woman \u2013 Inside Posts\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a style=\"display:none\" rel=\"follow\" href=\"http:\/\/megatheme.ir\/\" title=\"\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633\">\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Liberians are set to go to the polls to choose a successor to Africa\u2019s first elected female president and Nobel Peace laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Ex-football star George Weah and Vice-President Joseph Boakai are the main contenders in the race to succeed her. Liberia, founded by freed US slaves in the 19th Century, has not [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-427183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-world"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Liberians go to the polls today - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/10\/10\/liberians-go-to-the-polls-today\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Liberians go to the polls today - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Liberians are set to go to the polls to choose a successor to Africa\u2019s first elected female president and Nobel Peace laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. 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