Liberia's 'Iron Lady' Ellen Johnson Sirleaf poses at her home in Monrovia. Sirleaf looked set to make history as Africa's first female elected president, with just under 10 percent of votes left to be counted in Liberia's run-off election.

Until this week, there was a good chance that when anyone called one of the many numbers listed for Liberia's Unity Party, standard bearer Ellen Johnson Sirleaf would answer the phone.

But now, with the Harvard-educated banker on the verge of becoming Africa's first elected female president and the first post-war head of state for the conflict-torn west African nation, it's more than likely she'll have someone to do that mundane task for her.

"Who knows?" she told AFP on Thursday evening after results from 90.8 percent of polling stations nationwide gave her a lead of 59.1 percent over her rival, FIFA's former player of the year George Weah.

"My job as president will be to end the imperialism in this country, so the least I can do is answer my own calls."

After three decades of working in and fighting against government, and with a resume that boasts stints in both the private sector and within the United Nations system, the widowed grandmother is set to inherit the presidential mantle and the difficult task of rebuilding one of the world's failed states.

"I am confident, I am pleased, I am ready and I thank the Liberian people for choosing me," she said.

"It is a chance to show the continent that women can lead, and a chance to help my nation recover from its brutal conflicts."

The steely-eyed determination that helped Sirleaf survive two jail terms in the 1980s on charges of treason has earned her the nickname of "Iron Lady", a spirit she says she will apply to composing a government of inclusion and tackling the problems facing her country.

There is no running water in Liberia, no electricity and just 200 kilometers (125 miles) of paved roads in the country on west Africa's Atlantic coast.

Among her key priorities, she said, is helping to reintegrate the tens of thousands of war-affected youth into civilian society, so as "to help get the government machinery working again".

She has also promised to provide electricity to the capital within six months, a seemingly impossible task that could cost upwards of 200 million dollars -- more than twice the meagre annual 80 million-dollar budget controlled by the current transitional government.

(Agencies)

imperialism : （帝國主義，帝制）