Total transformation of the African warrior, from military rebel to popular politician (Photo)

He marched toward a wet mud road until he was divided into a poor village called Zangar Toa. His message was simple: Vote for me, reports “New York Times”, Transmission Periscope.

During the final battle of Liberia's 14-year war, Mr. Duo was photographed dancing into the air: his bust was naked and carved into muscles, his face was stun with excitement after he threw a rocket grenade at the rebels.

After more than a decade of fighting in the bush, Duo dismissed his weapons when the war ended in 2003. Hondros, who met with him two years later, encouraged him to return to high school and help him pay his schooling. Duo then studied criminal justice at a university in the capital, Monrovia, sold wooden points. Then he began training unarmed officers in Paynesville, on the edge of Monrovia.

This year, at the age of 40, he decided to prove his zeal in politics, where he had held a campaign criticising the country's corruption-ridden governance and failed to fulfill its promises.

“There is still war in this country, but this is not war”, Duo said in an interview at his home in Paynesville. It's the economic war because of high-class people in position, where they oppress the vast majority living in poverty”.

While the Liberians voted for a new president Tuesday, they also voted a new representative like Duo.

On his campaign posters, Duo uses Hondros' old picture. But he is accompanied by pictures interviewed by journalists and by him at his university graduation. Duo hopes his self-transformation story from a childhood soldier to a general lawmaker with a college degree will help him win.

There are signs that lawmakers can be held more responsible this round. The Daily Observer, one of the country's biggest newspapers, working with a non-governmental organisation focused on technology called iLab, is developing a registry preserving promises based on recent debates among candidates. And some candidates have signed development and governance agreements with a number of communities.

Still, the old streets continue. On the eve of the vote, when the sky became dark, Duo stood on the back of a small deadlock holding 20 people at a polling site. He caught a wave of Liberian dollars in his palm and then threw them towards the crowd.. /Periscopi/