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Liberian
politician and ex-footballer George Weah speaks during a meeting in Monrovia on
November 20, 2014 before the opening of political campaign activities for
senatorial elections ©Zoom Dosso (AFP)
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A
much-postponed election for half the seats in Ebola-hit Liberia's Senate has
been put back until the weekend -- but cannot be further delayed, the country's
electoral commission said Monday.
The
vote for 15 seats in the upper house of parliament has been postponed twice
already as the epidemic ravaged the impoverished west African nation. The
National Elections Commission (NEC) said the poll will now be held on December
20.
Football
star George Weah -- who played for Chelsea and AC Milan before retiring from
the game in 2003 -- and the son of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Robert
Sirleaf, are among the 139 candidates in the running for a seat.
Weah,
48, ran unsuccessfully against Johnson Sirleaf for president in the country's
2005 election.
Liberia
was the country worst hit by the deadly virus until it was overtaken by a surge
in deaths in neighbouring Sierra Leone last week. At least 3,177 people have
died in Liberia out of a total of 7,719 confirmed or suspected cases of the
disease.
The
Supreme Court in Monrovia had suspended the resumed election campaign at the
end of last month because of safely fears as the country battled to contain the
outbreak.
"The
decision to reschedule the election from December 16 to December 20 is intended
to compensate for the time lost as a result of the stay order imposed on the
election and campaign activities by the Supreme Court," NEC spokesman Joey
Kennedy said in a statement.
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