Elections set for October
Wednesday, 9 February 2005
Elections set for October
Elections for Liberia's first post-war government will be held on 11 October, the electoral commission has announced.
A power-sharing government, including former rebels, has ruled since former President Charles Taylor fled to Nigeria in August 2003.
Liberia’s total population is between three and four million people.
The UN has more than 14,000 troops in Liberia ,to try to help the country recover from its civil war, which lasted 14 years.
A United Nations representative said it was important for all Liberians to be able to vote, including about one million people who are displaced or in exile.
National Elections Commission (NEC) Chairperson Counsellor Frances Johnson-Morris said the results would be announced by 26 October at the latest.
MPs can not be elected on a constituency basis, as there has been no consensus within Liberia since the end of the war.
Voting registration will start on April 25th and end on May 21st. There be no voting outside of Liberia, so Displaced people that have not repatriated before the end of the registration period will not be able to vote.
Eighteen parties have already registered for parliamentary elections and another 18 are waiting for approval.
Over 45 men say they will run for president, including former world footballer of the year George Weah.
Over the weekend Cecelia Siaway-Teah, a 51-year-old social worker from the north-eastern region of Liberia, has expressed her interest in running for election.
"Men have failed us terribly in this country over the years, all they have brought upon us are suffering and wars," she told the BBC, last weekend.
