Liberia votes today

Let's hope....

Thousands of Liberians voted enthusiastically on Tuesday in elections they hope will build a better future for a West African country laid waste by one of the continent's most brutal civil wars.

At polling stations set up in churches, schools, public buildings and even rural huts and tents, crowds of voters lined up to take part in the first presidential and parliamentary polls held since the 14-year war ended in 2003.

Out of 22 presidential hopefuls that include former warlords and wealthy lawyers, former AC Milan striker and millionaire soccer star George Weah and former World Bank economist Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf are seen as the frontrunners.

Many Liberians were voting for the first time and saw the polls as an historic opportunity to leave behind a cycle of violence in Africa's oldest independent republic, founded by freed slaves from America in 1847.