Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf faces run-off in Liberia presidential elections

Africa's first female president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf will have to wait a little longer to see if she will get another term as Liberian leader.

Johnson-Sirleaf, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with fellow Liberian Leymah Gbowee and Yemeni human rights activist Tawakkul Karman last week, will face a presidential run-off against former diplomat Winston Tubman after failing to get a 50 percent majority for an outright win.

Johnson-Sirleaf is said to have received around 44.5 percent of the votes while Tubman got 32.2 percent in the election held on Tuesday (11). Former warlord Prince Johnson won 12 percent of the vote. The final results of the elections must be reported by October 26 and the end result could be a little different but reports suggest there will be a run-off next month.

The elections were the first to be organised by Liberia's National Elections Commission and were reported to have gone peacefully, according to the commission's chairman James Fromoyan.

Johnson-Sirleaf, who beat former footballer George Weah in the 2005 elections, had only planned to stay in office for one term but said she wanted to continue the work she had started to preserve the peace in the country which had been ravaged by a 14-year civil war which ended in 2003.

Picture: Winston Tubman and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf