Twenty candidates will be combating the presidential election in Liberia following the step down of President Sirleaf after 12 years.
The polls will be held on October 10 this year and is said to be most hotly contested one. It is unpredictable as several new faces have emerged as contestant.
The country will also select members of the House of Representative and this is the third time Liberia is hosting combined presidential and legislative elections since 2003 when the 14-year armed conflict ended.
First time the combined election took place in 2005 and it was remarkable. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf won and became the first democratically-elected female head of state in the entire African continent.
However, in the Senate and House Representatives no single party won more than a quarter of the seats.
In 2011 Sirleaf won again the re-election that was boycotted by the opposition alleging fraud. Her ruling party Unity Party (UP) managed to get three-times strength in the House of Representatives and in the Senate too the strength was doubled.
Now she will constitutionally resign leaving a political vacuum, giving way for a new president and amid such time when the country is facing several challenges including a high inflation and recession due to price drop of iron ore and rubber.
Moreover, high-level corruption was seen under Sirleaf and she had been regularly criticized. Many claims she has multiplied her personal wealth through office.