MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — Liberia's Supreme Court has denied a request from the governing Unity Party to halt the Dec. 26 presidential runoff, ruling that the National Elections Commission has acted within the law in setting the election date.

The second-round vote between former soccer star George Weah and Vice President Joseph Boakai had at one point been on hold after the third-place candidate's Liberty Party alleged first-round voting irregularities. The Supreme Court cleared the way for the runoff the beginning of December ordering the voter lists be fully cleaned up.

The ruling Unity Party then filed a complaint last week against the lists.

The Supreme Court Thursday upheld the vote date.

Voters are choosing a successor to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa's first female leader and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.