Elections in Liberia

Elections in Liberia occur solely at the national level. The head of state, the President of Liberia, is elected to a six-year term in a two-round system, in which a run-off between the two candidates with the highest number of votes is held should no single candidate earn a majority of the vote in the first round. The Legislature has two elected chambers.

The House of Representatives has 73 members, elected to six-year terms by the first-past-the-post method in single-member districts. The Senate has 30 members, 2 from each county, elected at-large to nine-year terms by the first-past-the-post method. Senatorial elections are staggered, with one senator from each county being elected in elections held three years apart, followed by a six-year period in which no senatorial elections are held.

All citizens who are 18 years or older may register to vote in elections. Under Article 83(a) of the Constitution, elections are held on the second Tuesday of October every election year, with presidential run-off elections being held on the second Tuesday following the announcement of the results of the first round. Elections are regulated by the National Elections Commission of Liberia (NEC).

Latest elections

2011 Presidential elections

Main article: Liberian general election, 2011

 Summary of the 11 October 2011 Liberian presidential election results

Candidate	Party	1st round		2nd round
		Votes	%	Votes	%
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf	Unity Party	530,020	43.9	607,618	90.7
Winston Tubman	Congress for Democratic Change	394,370	32.7	62,207	9.3
Prince Yormie Johnson	National Union for Democratic Progress	139,786	11.6
Charles Brumskine	Liberty Party	65,800	5.5
Kennedy Sandy	Liberia Transformation Party	13,612	1.1
Gladys Beyan	Grassroot Democratic Party of Liberia	12,740	1.1
Togba-Nah Tipoteh	Freedom Alliance Party of Liberia	7,659	0.6
Dew Mayson	National Democratic Coalition	5,819	0.5
Manjerngie Ndebe	Liberia Reconstruction Party	5,746	0.5
Simeon Freeman	Movement for Progressive Change	5,559	0.5
Marcus Roland Jones	Victory for Change Party	5,305	0.4
James Guseh	Citizens Unification Party	5,025	0.4
Hananiah Zoe	Liberia Empowerment Party	4,463	0.4
Chea Cheapoo	Progressive People's Party	4,085	0.3
James Chelley	Original Congress Party of Liberia	4,008	0.3
Jonathan A. Mason	Union of Liberian Democrats	2,645	0.2
Invalid or blank votes		82,074	6.4	24,587	3.5
Totals		1,288,716	100	669,825	100
Turnout		71.6%		38.6%

2011 House elections

Main article: Liberian general election, 2011

 Summary of the 11 October 2011 House of Representatives of Liberia election results

Political Party	Candidates	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	% of Seats
Unity Party	72	226,291	17.76	24	+2	32.9
Congress for Democratic Change	58	163,592	12.84	11	0	15.1
Liberty Party	68	117,285	9.20	7	+3	9.6
National Union for Democratic Progress	43	50,010	3.92	6	+6	8.2
National Democratic Coalition	61	73,144	5.74	5	+1	6.8
National Patriotic Party	21	42,420	3.33	3	-1	4.1
Alliance for Peace and Democracy	16	26,537	2.08	3	+2	4.1
Movement for Progressive Change	38	30,205	2.37	2	+2	2.7
Liberia Transformation Party	62	57,734	4.53	1	+1	1.4
Liberia Destiny Party	18	13,310	1.04	1	0	1.4
National Reformation Party	9	9,813	0.77	1	0	1.4
Original Congress Party of Liberia	22	17,613	1.38	0	0	0
National Democratic Party of Liberia	20	16,882	1.32	0	-1	0
Union of Liberian Democrats	22	15,199	1.19	0	-1	0
Victory for Change Party	17	10,744	0.84	0	0	0
Progressive Democratic Party	18	9,718	0.76	0	-1	0
Liberia Empowerment Party	10	9,174	0.72	0	0	0
Citizens Unification Party	17	8,946	0.70	0	0	0
Grassroot Democratic Party of Liberia	17	8,776	0.69	0	0	0
Liberia Reconstruction Party	16	8,641	0.68	0	-1	0
All Liberian Coalition Party	11	8,278	0.65	0	-3	0
Freedom Alliance Party of Liberia	12	7,077	0.56	0	0	0
Liberian National Union	4	5,347	0.42	0	0	0
Progressive People's Party	3	1,015	0.08	0	0	0
Republican Party of Liberia	3	991	0.08	0	0	0
National Social Democratic Party of Liberia	4	850	0.07	0	0	0
Independents	131	250,412	19.65	9	-1	12.3
Invalid or blank votes	-	84,182	6.61	-
Total	793	1,274,186	100	73

2011 Senate elections

Main article: Liberian general election, 2011

 Summary of the 11 October 2011 Senate of Liberia election results

Political Party	Seats Before Election	Seats Not Up	Seats Up	Candidates	Votes	%	Seats	New total seats	+/–	% of seats
Unity Party	11	6	5	13	164,851	12.85	4	10	-1	33.33
National Patriotic Party	3	2	1	7	70,260	5.48	4	6	+3	20.00
Congress for Democratic Change	2	1	1	5	259,161	20.20	2	3	+1	10.00
National Union for Democratic Progress	1	1	0	4	51,494	4.01	1	2	+1	6.66
Alliance for Peace and Democracy	3	1	2	4	29,777	2.32	1	2	-1	6.66
Liberty Party	2	1	1	14	134,357	10.47	0	1	-1	3.33
National Democratic Coalition	0	0	0	6	41,717	3.25	1	1	+1	3.33
Liberia Destiny Party	1	0	1	5	19,993	1.56	1	1	0	3.33
National Democratic Party of Liberia	1	1	0	2	2,440	0.19	0	1	0	3.33
Union of Liberian Democrats	2	0	2	2	9,834	0.77	0	0	-3	0
All Liberia Coalition Party	1	0	1	2	9,745	0.76	0	0	-1	0
Liberia Transformation Party	0	0	0	7	48,180	3.76	0	0	0	0
Movement for Progressive Change	0	0	0	4	18,098	1.41	0	0	0	0
Victory for Change Party	0	0	0	3	6,956	0.54	0	0	0	0
Grassroot Democratic Party of Liberia	0	0	0	1	4,515	0.35	0	0	0	0
Liberian National Union	0	0	0	1	3,756	0.29	0	0	0	0
Freedom Alliance Party of Liberia	0	0	0	2	2,697	0.21	0	0	0	0
National Reformation Party	0	0	0	1	714	0.06	0	0	0	0
Original Congress Party of Liberia	0	0	0	1	403	0.03	0	0	0	0
Independents	3	2	1	15	317,265	24.73	1	3	0	10.00
Invalid or blank votes	-	-	-	-	86,874	6.77	-	-
Totals	30	15	15	99	1,283,087	100	15	30

2011 Referendum

Main article: Liberian constitutional referendum, 2011

  Results of 23 August 2011 Liberian constitutional referendum

Amendment	Description	Yes		No		Invalid or blank
		Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
Amendment to Article 52(c)	Reducing presidential residency requirement from 10 to 5 years.	292,318	47.48%	246,473	40.03%	76,912	12.49%
Amendment to Article 72(b)	Increasing mandatory retirement age of judges from 70 to 75.	221,163	35.92%	322,223	52.33%	72,317	11.75%
Amendment to Article 83(a)	Moving election date to the second Tuesday of November.	307,647	49.97%	234,517	38.09%	73,539	11.94%
Amendment to Article 83(b)	Using single-round first-past-the-post voting for all legislative and municipal elections.	364,901	59.27%	174,469	28.34%	76,333	12.40%
Total ballots cast		615,703
Voter turnout		34.22%

See also

• National Election Commission (Liberia)
• Politics of Liberia

External links

• African Elections Database
• Adam Carr's Election Archive