Liberia set for presidential election in October

By Evelyn Kpadeh Seagbeh

MONROVIA, Liberia (AA) - The Election Commission on Tuesday confirmed that presidential elections in Liberia will be held on Oct. 10.

The commission’s Chairman, Jerome Korkoyah, made the announcement of the date in the capital Monrovia. This will be the country’s third democratic election since the end of Liberia’s civil war.

“As we enter the actual electoral process today, we call on all employees of the commission to take this assignment entrusted to us seriously,” Korkoyah said.

Liberians will go to polls in October to replace the country’s first female President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Sirleaf came to power in 2005 at the end of the country’s 14-year long civil war in 2003 after the signing of the Accra Peace Accord.

The accord had also resulted in former President Charles Taylor going into exile.

Sirleaf, who ends her second term this year, had promised at her last annual address before the legislature that Liberians will witness a peaceful transition of power following the October 2017 presidential election.

There are over 19 presidential aspirants who vow to remove the ruling Unity Party.