Liberia will hold its first general elections on Tuesday since the end of its 14-year civil war, with 22 candidates vying for the west African country's presidency.

The four leading contenders are former FIFA World Player of the Year George Weah, former World Bank economist Ellen Johnson- Sirleaf, former senator Charles Brumskine, and lawyer Varney Sherman.

The National Electoral Commission (NEC) has said there were also 22 vice presidential candidates, 206 candidates campaigning for 30 seats in the Senate, and 512 people competing for the 64 seats in the country's lower house of parliament.

According to the electoral commission, 1.3 million eligible voters of the country's 3 million population have registered to vote in the October 11 presidential election, the first since the end of 14-year-old civil war two years ago.

The voters will cast three ballots of different colors, one for president and vice president, one for members of the Senate and one for members of the House of Representatives, said the electoral commission.

The polls will open at 8 a.m. (0800 GMT) local time and close at 6 p.m. (1800 GMT) on Tuesday. By law, the NEC would release the results within the period of 15 days time. The new president is expected to take office in January 2006.

Liberia was founded in 1847 by freed African-American slaves. Its 14-year-long civil war from 1989 to 2003 has claimed about 250, 000 lives.

In August 2003, then Liberian president Charles Taylor resigned and was forced into exile in Nigeria. The warring factions reached an agreement in Ghana's capital of Accra on forming an transitional administration and holding presidential elections in October 2005.

Since the peace deal which ended 14 years of civil conflict, Liberia has been run by the transitional government, composed of representatives from all the main warring factions and civil society.

The United Nations has deployed 15,000 troops and more than 1, 000 police in an international peacekeeping force in Liberia to oversee the peace process since October 2003.

Poll observers have also fanned out nationwide, with 70 representatives of the European Union among more than 413 international monitors who have arrived in the country for the polls.

Source: Xinhua