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Liberians vote amid Ebola fears

December 20, 2014

Thousands of Liberians have cast their ballots in the twice-postponed Senate election on Saturday. The concern over the spread of Ebola forced the authorities to delay the vote for two months.

https://p.dw.com/p/1E7xq
Former Liberian football star George Weah, who is running for a seat in the Senate of Liberia, casts his ballot at a polling station in Monrovia on December 20, 2014 (Photo: ZOOM DOSSO/AFP/Getty Images)
Image: AFP/Getty Images/Z. Dosso

A total of 139 candidates are competing for 15 seats in Liberia's 30-member Senate. Around 1.9 million voters are eligible to vote in the elections.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's son, Robert Sirleaf, and former football star George Weah (pictured) are the main contenders.

The elections were originally scheduled for October but were postponed twice as the West African nation struggled to contain the Ebola epidemic, which has killed nearly 3,300 people in the country. Monrovia feared the election campaign and long queues at the polling stations might spread the virus further.

The country's health authorities have distributed thousands of thermometers and sanitizing material at polling stations to deal with the situation.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 7,800 Liberians have contracted the lethal virus, which makes it the second-most affected country after neighboring Sierra Leone. Liberia's infection rate, however, has fallen to less than 100 new cases per week, the organization says.

shs/lw (AP, dpa)