MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) – War-ravaged Liberia voted yesterday to choose its first postwar president in a heated runoff pitting an international soccer star who dropped out of high school against the country’s Harvard-educated top female politician.

With UN helicopters buzzing over the bombed-out capital, many prayed the vote would herald an era of peace after decades of conflict that displaced a third of the West African nation’s 3 million people and left up to 200,000 dead.

“We’ve been killin’ each other too much. There’s gonna’ be a change in Liberia this time around,” 27-year-old university student Saviour Dixon said in the Liberian patois after voting at bullet-splattered warehouse.

One-time FIFA player of the year George Weah and former finance minister Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf finished first and second in the Oct. 11 first round, which weeded out 20 other candidates, including warlords and rebel leaders.

Weah’s ascent from Monrovia’s slums to international soccer stardom has had great appeal in a dirt-poor country short on heroes. He has no experience in government, but that’s seen as a plus by many in a country long-ruled by coup leaders and warlords.

Johnson-Sirleaf boasts a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University and has a resume full of top postings in government and the United Nations. But her role in past, failed governments is seen as a drawback by some. If successful, she would become Africa’s first elected female president.

Across the country, Liberians voted patiently and peacefully, standing in lines delineated by candy-cane striped tape.