Liberia: Opposition party will participate in election runoff

Liberia’s main opposition party says it will take part in next week’s presidential runoff vote after threatening a boycott.

The party, whose ticket includes soccer star George Weah, said Monday though it still wants to be assured of better access to the vote-counting process.

The agreement to participate in the Nov. 8 ballot comes a day after the chairman of the National Elections Commission resigned following allegations he favored the incumbent president.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is Africa’s first democratically elected female leader and a Nobel Peace laureate. She won the first round but failed to reach the threshold needed to avoid a runoff.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.