Preparations for Tuesday's run-off election in Liberia should produce a president who will lead the country into a "new era of peace, democracy and prosperity," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said. "I therefore urge all registered voters not to miss this unique opportunity," Annan said in a message to the West African country carried by dpa on the eve of the election. He urged Liberians to accept results of the presidential election "so the country can continue to build a future based on a solid democratic foundations." Annan said the preparations were completed by the U.N. mission and other organizations for the second round following the undecided vote on October 11. Thousands of international and Liberian electoral observers were deployed to monitor polling stations. The runoff election will usher in the first truly post-war government in a country that has known no genuine peace since 1980, when the country's elected president was toppled in a bloody coup by non-commissioned officers of the Armed Forces of Liberia. Liberia is Africa's oldest republic, founded by freed American slaves in 1847. On Tuesday, some 1.3 million voters will decide between the two frontrunners: Soccer star George Weah, 39, and rival presidential candidate and grandmother Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson, 66, an economist. --SP 2346 Local Time 2046 GMT
