Liberia Elections: George Weah Wins Liberia Senate Seat

Mr Weah comfortably beat off a challenge from Robert Sirleaf, the son of President Sirleaf

Former world soccer player of the year George Weah has won a seat in Liberia's Senate to represent the capital, boosting his political fortunes ahead of a presidential election in 2017.

Weah won the Montserrado County seat that includes the capital Monrovia with 78 percent of the vote, defeating Robert Sirleaf, the son of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia's National Elections Commission said late on Saturday.

Weah, leader of the country's largest opposition party, the Congress for Democratic Change, lost the 2005 presidential election to Sirleaf and lost again in 2011 when he was a vice presidential candidate. He is expected to stand again in 2017.

Weah won FIFA's World Player of the Year in 1995.

Liberia's efforts to recover from a long civil war that ended in 2003 and reestablish democracy have been hampered this year by an Ebola epidemic that has killed more than 3,300 people in the country and more than 7,500 people in West Africa.

"Results from all 4,701 polling places in the country have already been counted and tallied. The recorded voter turnout for the election is 479,936 which represents 25.2 percent of the total number of registered voters," election commission chairman Jerome Korkoya said in a statement following the elections to the Senate -- the upper house of the legislature.

Low turnout in the poll, which was first planned for October, was blamed on concerns about Ebola.

Strict health controls were in place to try to prevent the spread of the disease.

Those who came to polling stations had their temperature taken, were told to stand a metre (3ft) apart and wash their hands before and after voting.

Liberia has been one of the countries worst affected by Ebola, with almost 3,400 deaths, the United Nations said.

Health workers took the temperatures of voters as a precaution against Ebola

Other Senate winners included Jewel Howard Taylor, the former wife of ex-President Charles Taylor who was convicted by the International Criminal Court in 2012 on charges including war crimes and crimes against humanity. Jewel Taylor retained her seat in Bong County, north-central Liberia.

Former rebel leader Prince Johnson, whose forces captured, tortured and killed President Samuel Doe during the civil war in 1990, also retained a seat in Nimba County.

The National Elections Commission chairman, Jerome Korkoya, called the conclusion of the vote “the end of a crucial journey.”

Mr. Weah won the first round of the 2005 presidential election, losing the runoff to Ms Johnson-Sirleaf.

He is the only African to be named FIFA’s world player of the year, winning in 1995.