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This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Liberia Constitution Constitution of 1986 2011 referendum Constitution of 1847 Legislature Legislature House of Representatives Senate Presidency President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Vice President Joseph Boakai Cabinet Judiciary Supreme Court Chief Justice Johnnie Lewis Elections 2011 elections 2005 elections 1997 elections 1985 elections Political parties Unity Democratic Change Liberty Additional parties Security Armed Forces of Liberia Liberian National Police UNMIL Subdivisions Counties Districts Clans

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Politics of Liberia takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic modeled on the government of the United States whereby the President is the head of state and head of government; unlike the United States however Liberia is a unitary state as opposed to a federation and has a pluriform multi-party system rather than the two-party system that characterizes US politics. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the legislature.

Liberia is still in transition from dictatorship and civil war to democracy. Liberia's government is based on the American model of a republic with three equal branches of government though in reality the President of Liberia has usually been the dominant force in Liberian politics. Following the dissolution of the Republican Party in 1876 the True Whig Party dominated the Liberian government until the 1980 coup eventually creating a one-party state.

Currently no party has majority control of the legislature. The longest serving president in Liberian history was William Tubman serving from 1944 until his death in 1971. The shortest term was held by James Skivring Smith who was interim president all of two months. However the political process from Liberia's founding in 1847 despite widespread corruption was very stable until the end of the First Republic in 1980. Contents 1 Political developments since 1980 2 Executive branch 3 Legislative branch 4 Political parties and elections 5 Judicial branch 6 Administrative divisions 7 International organization participation 8 Further reading 9 External links Political developments since 1980

Between 1980 and 2006 Liberia was governed by a series of military and transitional governments. The president of the last of these Charles Taylor was forced to step down in 2003 and the United Nations installed a transitional government. Elections to select a government to replace the transitional government took place in October and November 2005. (see Liberian elections 2005).

In the 1980s Samuel K. Doe's government increasingly adopted an ethnic outlook as members of his Krahn ethnic group soon dominated political and military life in Liberia. This caused a heightened level of ethnic tension leading to frequent hostilities between the politically and militarily dominant Krahns and other ethnic groups in the country.

Political parties remained banned until 1984. Elections were held on October 15 1985 in which Doe's National Democratic Party of Liberia (NDPL) was declared winner. The elections were characterized by widespread fraud and rigging. The period after the elections saw increased human rights abuses corruption and ethnic tensions. The standard of living which had been rising in the 1970s declined drastically. On November 12 1985 former Army Commanding General Thomas Quiwonkpa invaded Liberia by way of neighboring Sierra Leone and almost succeeded in toppling the government of Samuel Doe. Members of the Krahn-dominated Armed Forces of Liberia repelled Quiwonkpa's attack and executed him in Monrovia. The Executive Mansion has been the home of Liberian Presidents since the 1960s but has not been used since a fire in 1996.

On December 24 1989 a small band of rebels led by Doe's former procurement chief Charles Taylor invaded Liberia from Cte d'Ivoire. Taylor and his National Patriotic Front rebels rapidly gained the support of Liberians because of the repressive nature of Samuel Doe and his government. Barely six months after the rebels first attacked they had reached the outskirts of Monrovia. The First and Second Liberian Civil War which was one of Africa's bloodiest claimed the lives of more than 200000 Liberians and further displaced a million others into refugee camps in neighboring countries. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) intervened and succeeded in preventing Charles Taylor from capturing Monrovia. Prince Johnson who had been a member of Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) but broke away because of policy differences formed the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL). Johnson's forces captured and killed Doe on 9 September 1990. An Interim Government of National Unity (IGNU) was formed in Gambia under the auspices of ECOWAS in October 1990 and Dr. Amos Sawyer became President. Taylor refused to work with the interim government and continued war. By 1992 several warring factions had emerged in the Liberian civil war all of which were absorbed in the new transitional government. After several peace accords and declining military power Taylor finally agreed to the formation of a five-man transitional government. After considerable progress in negotiations conducted by the United States United Nations Organization of African Unity and the Economic Community of West African States disarmament and demobilization of warring factions were hastily carried out and special elections were held on 19 July 1997 with Charles Taylor and his National Patriotic Party emerging victorious. Taylor won the election by a large majority primarily because Liberians feared a return to war had Taylor lost. However unrest continued and by 2003 two rebel groups were challenging Taylor's control of the country. In August 2003 Taylor resigned and fled the country and vice-president Moses Blah became acting president. The international community again intervened and helped set up a transitional government under Gyude Bryant. For more than a year over 9000 census-takers combed the densely forested nation mapping every structure. For three days starting March 21 2008 they will revisit each dwelling and count the inhabitants.1 Executive branch Main office holders Office Name Party Since President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf UP 16 January 2006 The president is elected by popular vote for a six-year term (renewable). The cabinet is appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Legislative branch Liberia has a bicameral Legislature that consists of the Senate (30 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve nine-year terms) and the House of Representatives (64 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms) Political parties and elections For other political parties see List of political parties in Liberia. An overview on elections and election results is included in Elections in Liberia. More info: Liberia elections 2005 e  d Summary of the 11 October and 8 November 2005 Liberian presidential election results Candidate Party 1st round 2nd round Votes % Votes % Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Unity Party 192326 19.8% 478526 59.4% George Weah Congress for Democratic Change 275265 28.3% 327046 40.6% Charles Brumskine Liberty Party 135093 13.9%   Winston Tubman National Democratic Party of Liberia 89623 9.2% Varney Sherman Coalition for the Transformation of Liberia 76403 7.8% Roland Massaquoi National Patriotic Party 40361 4.1% Joseph Korto Liberia Equal Rights Party 31814 3.3% Alhaji G.V. Kromah All Liberia Coalition Party 27141 2.8% Togba-Nah Tipoteh Alliance for Peace and Democracy 22766 2.3% William V.S. Tubman Jr. Reformed United Liberia Party 15115 1.6% John Morlu United Democratic Alliance 12068 1.2% Nathaniel Barnes Liberian Destiny Party 9325 1.0% Margaret Tor-Thompson Freedom Alliance Party of Liberia 8418 0.9% Joseph Woah-Tee Labor Party of Liberia 5948 0.6% Sekou Conneh Progressive Democratic Party 5499 0.6% David Farhat Free Democratic Party 4497 0.5% George Klay Kieh New Deal Movement 4476 0.5% Armah Jallah National Party of Liberia 3837 0.4% Robert Kpoto Union of Liberian Democrats 3825 0.4% George Kiadii National Vision Party of Liberia 3646 0.4% Samuel Raymond Divine Independent 3188 0.3% Alfred Reeves National Reformation Party 3156 0.3% Invalid or blank votes 38883 3.8% 20144 2.4% Totals 1012673 100% 825716 100% Liberian House of Representatives elections 2005 Party Results Votes Percentage of Votes Seats Congress for Democratic Change 157753 15.97% 15 Liberty Party 125469 12.70% 9 Coalition for the Transformation of Liberia 137897 13.97% 8 Unity Party 123373 12.49% 8 Alliance for Peace and Democracy 38285 3.86% 5 National Patriotic Party 78751 7.97% 4 New Deal Movement 35721 3.62% 3 All Liberia Coalition Party 19471 1.97% 2 National Democratic Party of Liberia 29402 2.98% 1 National Reformation Party 22542 2.28% 1 United Democratic Alliance 14078 1.43% 1 Free Democratic Party 19326 1.96% 0 Progressive Democratic Party 11997 1.21% 0 Freedom Alliance Party of Liberia 11126 1.13% 0 Union of Liberian Democrats 10089 1.02% 0 Labor Party of Liberia 7811 0.79% 0 Liberia Equal Rights Party 7256 0.73% 0 Reformed United Liberia Party 6252 0.63% 0 Liberian Destiny Party 5493 0.60% 0 National Vision Party of Liberia 3443 0.35% 0 National Party of Liberia 1532 0.16% 0 Independents 65073 6.59% 7 Invalid or blank votes 52550 5.32% Totals 987911 100.00% 64 Liberian Senate elections 2005 Party Results Votes Percentage of Votes Seats Coalition for the Transformation of Liberia 232636 13.51% 7 Unity Party 222705 12.93% 4 Congress for Democratic Change 252677 15.97% 3 Liberty Party 213234 12.38% 3 National Patriotic Party 178259 10.35% 3 Alliance for Peace and Democracy 119091 6.92% 3 National Democratic Party of Liberia 60668 3.52% 2 All Liberia Coalition Party 28385 1.65% 1 National Reformation Party 12037 0.70% 1 Progressive Democratic Party 17262 1.00% 0 Reformed United Liberia Party 13293 0.77% 0 Freedom Alliance Party of Liberia 13050 0.76% 0 United Democratic Alliance 11265 0.65% 0 Union of Liberian Democrats 5503 0.32% 0 New Deal Movement 4264 0.25% 0 Liberian Destiny Party 3431 0.20% 0 Labor Party of Liberia 1645 0.10% 0 Independents 301729 17.52% 3 Invalid or blank votes 31206 1.81% Totals 1722108 100.00% 30 Judicial branch There is a Supreme Court criminal courts and appeals court and magistrate courts in the counties. There also are traditional courts and lay courts in the counties. Trial by ordeal is practiced in various parts of Liberia. Administrative divisions The basic unit of local government is the town chief. There are clan chiefs paramount chiefs and district commissioners. Mayors are elected in principal cities in Liberia. The counties are governed by superintendents appointed by the President. There are fifteen counties in Liberia. International organization participation ACP AfDB CCC ECA ECOWAS FAO G-77 IAEA IBRD ICAO ICFTU ICRM IDA IFAD IFC IFRCS ILO IMF IMO Inmarsat Intelsat (nonsignatory user) Interpol IOC IOM ITU NAM OAU OPCW UN UNCTAD UNESCO UNIDO UPU WCL WFTU WHO WIPO WMO Further reading International Crisis Group Liberia reports Martin Lowenkopf Politics in Liberia: The Conservative Road to Development 1976. William Reno Reinvention of an African Patrimonial State: Charles Taylor's Liberia Third World Quarterly Vol. 16 No. 1 (Mar. 1995) pp. 109-120 Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd. 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