MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — Liberians have gathered in masses to elect a new president and legislature, an election that for the first time in more than 70 years will see one democratically elected government hand power to another.

As Africa's first female president prepares to step aside, voters called for peaceful and fair elections on Tuesday.

Twenty presidential candidates are vying for a majority in the first round of elections, while nearly 1,000 candidates from 26 parties fight for 73 seats in the House of Representatives.

Many of the more than 2.1 million voters are calling for a president who will improve the economy and access to electricity.

Liberia's health system was decimated by Ebola, a challenge for Nobel Prize-winning President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who also led Liberia's transition from a 14-year civil war.