2005 Liberian general election

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Presidential election
11 October 2005 (first round) 8 November 2005 (second round)
Turnout	74.86% (first round) 61.04% (second round)
Nominee Ellen Johnson Sirleaf George Weah Party UP CDC Running mate Joseph Boakai Rudolph Johnson Popular vote 478,526 327,046 Percentage 59.40% 40.60%
First round results by county Second round results by county
President before election Gyude Bryant LAP Elected President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf UP

General elections were held inLiberia on 11 October 2005, with a runoff election for the presidency held on 8 November. Thepresidency and all seats in theHouse of Representatives andSenate were up for election. The elections were the first held since1997 and marked the end of the political transition following thesecond civil war, having been stipulated in theAccra Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2003.Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, formerWorld Bank employee and Liberian finance minister, won the presidential contest and became the first democratically elected femaleAfricanhead of state in January 2006.

Frances Johnson-Morris, the chairwoman of the National Elections Commission (NEC), announced the 11 October date on 7 February 2005.^[1]

Elections were scheduled for all 64 seats in theHouse of Representatives, with each of Liberia's 15counties having at least two seats and the remaining seats allotted proportionally based on voter registration.^[2] TheSenate had 30 seats up for elections, with two from each county.^{[citation needed]}

Prior to the election, formerfootball starGeorge Weah was considered by many to be the favorite, due at least partially to widespread dissatisfaction with Liberia's politicians. Weah, who had been the subject of a petition published in September 2004 urging him to run,^[3] announced his candidacy in mid-November 2004 and received a hero's welcome when he arrived inMonrovia later in the month.^[4] Weah won the first round of voting but lost in the 8 November 2005 run-off. He initially filed formal fraud charges, but subsequently dropped his allegations, citing the interests of peace.^{[citation needed]}

The chairman of the transitional government,Gyude Bryant, and other members of the transitional government did not run, according to the terms of the peace deal.^{[citation needed]}

On 13 August, the election commission published a list of 22 presidential candidates who were cleared to run; six candidates were rejected, but Weah was cleared to stand despite complaints that he had adopted French citizenship. The Senate seats were contested by 206 candidates and the seats in the lower house were contested by 503 candidates.[1] Campaigning for the elections began on 15 August.

In late September, the Supreme Court ruled that two excluded presidential candidates, Marcus Jones and Cornelius Hunter, and an excluded legislative candidate could register to run; this ruling created the possibility that the elections would have to be postponed in order to reprint ballot papers. However, these candidates later withdrew their bids, so the elections went ahead on schedule on 11 October.^[5]

Voting took place in two rounds 11 October and 8 November. Twenty-two people contested the presidential race in the first round.George Weah, former soccer star andEllen Johnson Sirleaf, formerWorld Bank employee and finance minister finished first and second, respectively and advanced to the second roundrun-off, which Johnson-Sirleaf won 59%-41%, according to the National Electoral Commission.

Weah claimedelection fraud, stating elections officials werestuffing ballot boxes in Johnson-Sirleaf's favor. Mostelections observers, including those from theUnited Nations, theEuropean Union and theEconomic Community of West African States, say that the election was clean and transparent. TheCarter Center observed "minor irregularities" but no major problems. Johnson-Sirleaf reminded the press that Weah has 72 hours to bring evidence of wrongdoing to her campaign according to Liberian law, calling the accusations "lies" and stating that Weah's supporters "just don't want a woman to be President in Africa."^[6]

On 22 December 2005, Weah withdrew his protests, and in January, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became the first democratically elected female Head of State in the history of the African Continent, and the first native female African head of state sinceEmpressZauditu, who ruledEthiopia from 1916 to 1930.

As no Senate existed prior to the elections, each voter was eligible to cast two ballots for different candidates. The two candidates with the highest number of votes in each county were elected. The candidate with the highest share of votes became thesenior senator for the county, elected to a nine-year term. The candidate with the second-highest share became thejunior senator, elected to a six-year term. This method was chosen in order to reintroduce astaggered electoral system.

The following are the results for the 2005 Senate elections from theNational Elections Commission.

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