Liberians were choosing Tuesday between a wealthy international soccer star and a Harvard-educated female politician vying for the country's top job in a brains-versus-brawn presidential runoff that many hope will herald a new era after a quarter century of coups and war.

One-time FIFA player of the year George Weah and former Finance Minister Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf finished first and second, respectively, in the October 11 first round, which weeded out 20 other presidential candidates, including warlords and rebel leaders.

Weah, with little formal education or experience in politics, is running on his popularity born from soccer stardom that has kept him untainted by the country's bloody wars. Johnson-Sirleaf boasts a Harvard University education and has a resume full of top postings in government and the United Nations, but is handicapped by her association with past failed governments.

"It's going to be a tough battle," said Liberian journalist Raymond Zarbay. "Whoever wins will have to take Liberia from where it is. Can either one do it? That's the million dollar question."

Lines began forming outside polling stations just before voting began as scheduled at 0800GMT.

About 50 people waited outside a school in the capital early Tuesday. The six polling workers there prayed together in a circle just before the voters began filing into a bare, concrete room.

Augustin Forkpa, the first in line, made the sign of the cross against his chest before dropping his ballot into a clear plastic container.

"We are hoping for a better future; we've been suffering too long. And this time around, we hope this election will do us something better," said Forkpa, a Finance Ministry worker who voted for Johnson-Sirleaf.

Founded by freed American slaves in the mid-1800s, Africa's first republic was once among its most prosperous, bolstered by fields of diamonds and a vast ocean of tropical forests rich in hardwood timber and rubber.

A coup in 1980, which saw Cabinet ministers stripped, tied to poles and shot on the beach, heralded a grim era of strife that ended in 2003 when warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor stepped down as advancing rebels shelled the capital.

Despite the peace that came with the war's end, little has improved.

Burned-out, bullet-splattered buildings still dot the low skyline, along with others sprouting weeds that were never completed.

The capital, where chaotic jumbles of power lines hang low across the streets, has no power mains, relying almost exclusively on generators, candles and lanterns.

Today, with Taylor watching from exile in Nigeria, Liberia's fragile peace is overseen by a 15,000-strong UN force backing the transitional, caretaker government of Gyude Bryant.

The peacekeepers made their presence on the streets more visible in the run-up to Tuesday's vote. On Sunday, scores of them manned tented checkpoints in sky-blue baseball caps, surrounded by sandbags and white armoured personnel carriers.

In New York, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the historic vote offers the Liberian people "an opportunity to elect a president to lead the country into a new era of peace, democracy and prosperity," UN deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.

Annan also assured Liberians that UN peacekeepers "will maintain a safe and secure environment, to enable them to cast their votes without fear of intimidation or violence."

Who will win at last?

In the first round, Weah took 29 per cent of the vote to Johnson-Sirleaf's 19 per cent. A simple majority had been needed for outright victory.

About 1.3 million of Liberia's 3 million people were registered to vote in Tuesday's poll, which was being monitored by thousands of international and Liberian electoral observers.

Four former Liberian rebel leaders, including a warlord whose men once hacked the president live on camera, have thrown their weight behind Weah.

Critics say their support for Weah stems from a belief that they are less likely to face prosecution for war crimes under a Weah administration than one headed by Johnson-Sirleaf, a suggestion Johnson dismissed.

The warlords' support for the popular Weah has met with some scepticism on the streets of the capital Monrovia.

"One of the reasons they are supporting Weah may be his weakness in governance and lack of sufficient knowledge on human rights and international diplomacy. That should tell you something very important here," said politics student Cynthia Smith.

On Sunday, Weah flooded his personal station, Clar TV, named after his wife, with ads trumping his soccer stardom.

"Life is a game, choose the best player. George Manneh Weah for president," said one. On billboards, Weah promised "Liberia shall rise again."

Johnson-Sirleaf: Female president?

Johnson-Sirleaf, 66, is a Harvard-educated economist who would become Africa's first elected female president if she wins. A former finance minister who has also worked at the United Nations, World Bank and Citibank, she has earned the nickname "Iron Lady" for her tough political style.

Johnson-Sirleaf, a member of Liberia's political elite who calls herself the "grand-daughter of a Kru market woman," is promising to use her blue-chip education and international development experience to rebuild the war-shattered country.

Now a grandmother, she was initially a supporter of warlord and ex-president Charles Taylor but has since broken ties with him and supports his prosecution.

From rags to riches: George Weah's story

George Weah grew up in a hut on a reclaimed swamp on Bushrod Island in Liberia's capital, Monrovia.

He was raised by his grandmother, before leaving to score spectacular goals for some of Europe's most glamorous clubs and amass a considerable fortune.

Ten years ago, he was hailed as the finest player in the world. Now he is favourite to win his country's first free elections after 14 years of tribal fighting that have claimed at least 250,000 lives.

Weah has no political experience and is mocked by his rivals as naive and minimally educated. He resents the slur and goes to great lengths to impress with his grandiloquence.

However, the people love him. That a country deprived of food and freedom for so long should turn to a footballer to save them says much about the desperation of the people, 80 per cent of whom have no work.

Quite what he stands for or how he will deliver his vague promises nobody is sure. He talks about building roads and hospitals, about bringing peace to the country.

However, the constituency is unusually young; a quarter of voters are under 23, nearly half under 30. All are addicted to football and all of them know Weah's great footballing deeds.

Weah witnessed unrest first-hand growing up. In 1980, President William Tolbert was killed in an army coup led by Samuel Doe, a rough-edged army sergeant who tapped into growing national resentment of the ruling classes. Nine days later, Weah saw a dozen of Tolbert's supporters assassinated while he was strolling along a beach.

Weah's football was always going to be his ticket out of Liberia, and in 1988 he went to Monaco, where the manager was Arsene Wenger. Weah was brilliant, but gauche.

However Weah, who indulged himself in time-honoured footballing tradition with a string of fast cars and flashy clothes, was hungry for more and moved from Monaco to Paris St Germain in 1992. They won the Cup in 1993 and the French title in 1994.

The honours and the goals just kept coming and it was inevitable King George would join one of the giants of the game. In the 1995-96 season, all Weah's promise and gifts came together at AC Milan. They won the Italian Serie A and he was crowned the international footballer of the year. It was a wondrous season for him and the club.

After his retirement, There was little suggestion he would resurface as a politician.

However, what few people outside his immediate circle realized was that Weah had been quietly politicized when he met Nelson Mandela on a trip to South Africa in the mid-1990s. Mandela called him "the pride of Africa;" Weah agreed.

Source: China Daily