Liberian Presidential Election of 2005
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf defeated George Weah in a runoff to become Africa's first elected female head of state.
Overview
Held two years after a peace agreement ended Liberia's long civil wars and the departure of Charles Taylor, the 2005 election was organized with heavy support from the United Nations mission in the country. Former football star George Weah led the first round in October, but Harvard-trained economist and former World Bank official Ellen Johnson Sirleaf won the November runoff with about 59 percent of the vote. Weah's supporters alleged fraud, but international observers judged the vote credible. Johnson Sirleaf served two terms, shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011, and in 2018 handed power to Weah himself in the country's first peaceful transfer between elected leaders in decades.
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