Liberia goes to the polls – in pictures

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the president of Liberia, speaks at a Unity party presidential campaign rally at the Samuel Doh stadium in Monrovia on Sunday. Tuesday's general election will be the first domestically-organised vote since the civil war ended in 2003 Photograph: Luc Gnago/Reuters

Winston Tubman, the Congress for Democratic Change candidate, holds a media briefing at his house in Monrovia ahead of the election. He has branded Johnson Sirleaf's Nobel peace prize award 'a political interference in our country's politics'
Photograph: Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images

A Johnson Sirleaf supporter displays a campaign flyer. Many who voted for the Unity party in 2005 are promising to back the Tubman-led Congress for Democratic Change this time round. Whatever the outcome, the election is an important test for Liberia Photograph: Luc Gnago/Reuters

An opposition supporter holds a poster of presidential candidate Winston Tubman and his running mate George Weah. Like Johnson Sirleaf, Tubman was educated at Harvard; he is the nephew of Liberia's longest-serving president, William Tubman Photograph: Luc Gnago/Reuters

Unity party supporters in Monrovia cheer on 'Ma Ellen', as their chosen candidate is fondly nicknamed. Winning the Nobel peace prize underlined Johnson Sirleaf's international standing, but some young voters feel she has let them down
Photograph: Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images

George Weah, seen here alongside Tubman at a Congress for Democratic Change rally, came a close second in the 2005 election. Weah's football career included league titles with PSG and AC Milan; in 1995, he was voted world player of the year Photograph: Luc Gnago/Reuters

A United Nations soldier stands guard as Johnson Sirleaf waves to supporters during a visit to the Lynch Street area of Monrovia on the final day of campaigning. The annual government budget has risen sixfold under her presidency, from $80m to $516m Photograph: Rebecca Blackwell/AP

The Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee, pictured centre with Johnson Sirleaf, also received the Nobel peace prize last week. She helped bring Liberia to peace in the early 00s, leading a group of women who protested against civil rights abuses
Photograph: Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images

Locals gather on Tubman Boulevard in Monrovia to read the day's news on Daily Talk, a popular site operated since 2000 by journalist Alfred Sirleaf. It has been suggested that the blackboard newspaper is the most widely-read in the Liberian capital Photograph: Rebecca Blackwell/AP

Members of a church group calling for peaceful elections march past a billboard reading 'Ballots not bullets' outside the election commission headquarters in Monrovia Photograph: Rebecca Blackwell/AP

A man reads a partisan newspaper article as he waits at a bus stop in Monrovia displaying campaign posters. The final results of the election will be announced on 26 October, with a run-off poll to be held on 8 November if required. There are 16 presidential candidates (pdf) Photograph: Rebecca Blackwell/AP

People wait to vote at a polling station in Allasala Town, Bomi county, on Tuesday morning. The international community has appealed for rival supporters to remain calm throughout the election process, during which emotions are likely to run high Photograph: Luc Gnago/Reuters