By Alphonso Toweh
BARCLAYVILLE,&nbsp;Liberia&nbsp;(Reuters) -&nbsp;Liberia's&nbsp;president, George&nbsp;Weah, has a message for voters ahead of Tuesday's&nbsp;election: he needs more&nbsp;time.&nbsp;After&nbsp;a&nbsp;first&nbsp;term&nbsp;marred by corruption allegations and continued hardship, many still need convincing.
The former soccer star, who came to power in 2017 on a wave of popular support&nbsp;after&nbsp;two unsuccessful attempts, said he was on track to deliver progress in the poverty-stricken West African country, despite the coronavirus pandemic which he said dealt a setback to his original plans.
"We have done almost 90% of what needs to be done, that is why we are&nbsp;coming back to you saying, extend our time,"&nbsp;Weah&nbsp;told a rally on Wednesday night in Barclayville in southeastern&nbsp;Liberia.
As in 2017,&nbsp;Weah&nbsp;is campaigning on building new roads, a timely subject during&nbsp;elections which come around in the rainy season when much of the country's unpaved routes are&nbsp;cut off from the capital Monrovia by bad weather.
"I want history to show that rural roads in&nbsp;Liberia&nbsp;were&nbsp;paved by George&nbsp;Weah," he said.
Weah, 57, had a storied athletic career, rising from the slums of&nbsp;Liberia&nbsp;to the summit of world soccer playing for top clubs such as Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan. He will face 19 candidates in the&nbsp;presidential&nbsp;election.
The winner of the&nbsp;presidential race must secure&nbsp;50% of the total vote cast, plus at least one more&nbsp;vote, in order to avoid a runoff.
His main challenger is former Vice&nbsp;President&nbsp;Joseph Boakai, 78, whom he defeated in a runoff in 2017 and who is known as "Sleepy Joe" for allegedly falling asleep at public events.
Weah&nbsp;has built hospitals and introduced free education in a country still struggling to emerge from two devastating civil wars between 1989 and 2003, and a 2013-16 Ebola epidemic that killed thousands.
But some voters say they are&nbsp;disappointed by his failure&nbsp;to improve living standards or tackle corruption and a growing narcotics problem among destitute youths.
Last year,&nbsp;Weah&nbsp;fired his chief of staff and two other senior officials&nbsp;after&nbsp;the United States imposed sanctions on them for corruption. In 2018, a&nbsp;Liberian court issued arrest warrants for more&nbsp;than 30 former central bank officials in connection with $104 million that went missing.
"Weah&nbsp;said he was coming for change. But now, everything has got worse ... Everything is hard," said Josephine Musa, a small-business owner in Monrovia.
Maja Bovcon, senior Africa analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft, said&nbsp;Weah&nbsp;will likely win in the second round because he enjoys the incumbency dividend, and his success story as a former football star who rose from poverty has enduring appeal.
But she said his poor track&nbsp;record in the&nbsp;first&nbsp;term, and the loss of support of his key backer, former warlord Prince Yormie Johnson, could cost him votes. Johnson has switched his support to Boakai.
"Weah&nbsp;administration's weak performance and&nbsp;reported links to numerous corruption scandals decreases the ruling party's chance of obtaining a majority in the legislative&nbsp;elections," Bovcon said.
However, a lack of strong, fresh opposition could work in his favour, as could solid economic growth. The economy expanded by nearly 5% last year, driven by gains in agriculture&nbsp;and mining, the World Bank says.
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(Reporting by Alphonso Toweh in Barclayville,&nbsp;Liberia; Writing by Bate Felix; Editing by Edward McAllister and Matthew Lewis)

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Liberia President Weah seeks re-election after chaotic first term