Liberian general election, 1997

Liberian presidential election, 1997

19 July 1997

Nominee Charles Taylor Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Party National Patriotic Unity Popular vote 468,443 59,557 Percentage 75.33% 9.58%

President before election Ruth Perry Independent Elected President Charles Taylor National Patriotic

The 1997 Liberian general election was held on 19 July 1997 as part of the 1996 peace agreement ending the First Liberian Civil War. The presidency, as well as all seats in the House of Representatives and the Senate were up for election. Voter turnout was around 89%.^[1]

Former rebel leader Charles Taylor and his National Patriotic Party (NPP) won the election by a substantial margin; Taylor won 75.3% of the vote in the presidential election, whilst the NPP won the same number of votes in the parliamentary election.^[2] Taylor was inaugurated as president on 2 August 1997.

Taylor campaigned on the slogan "He killed my ma, he killed my pa, but I will vote for him."^[3] The elections were overseen by the United Nations' peacekeeping mission, United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia, along with a contingent from the Economic Community of West African States.^[4] Taylor won the election in a landslide, garnering 75 percent of the vote. Taylor's closest competitor, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, collected only 10 percent of the vote. Taylor's victory has been widely attributed to the belief that he would resume the war if he lost.

Results

Presidential election

Candidate	Party	Number of Votes	% of Votes
Charles Taylor	National Patriotic Party (NPP)	468,443	75.33%
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf	Unity Party (UP)	59,557	9.58%
Alhaji G.V. Kromah	All Liberia Coalition Party (ALCOP)	25,059	4.02%
Cletus Wotorson	Alliance of Political Parties (ALLIANCE)	15,969	2.57%
Gabriel Baccus Matthews	United People's Party (UPP)	15,604	2.51%
Togba-Nah Tipoteh	Liberian People's Party (LPP)	10,010	1.61%
George Boley	National Democratic Party of Liberia (NDPL)	7,843	1.26%
Harry Moniba	Liberia National Union (LINU)	6,708	1.08%
George T. Washington	People's Democratic Party of Liberia (PDPL)	3,497	0.56
Martin Sheriff	National Reformation Party (NRP)	2,965	0.48
Chea Cheapoo	Progressive People's Party (PPP)	2,142	0.34
Henry Fahnbulleh	Reformation Alliance Party (RAP)	2,067	0.33
Fayah Gbollie	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	2,016	0.32
Total		621,880	100

Note: The Alliance of Political Parties was a coalition of the Liberian Action Party (LAP) and Liberia Unification Party (LUP).

Legislative results

Due to the system of proportional representation used in the election, legislative seats were distributed to parties on the basis of percentage of votes won by their respective presidential candidates.

Party	Votes	%	Seats
			Senate	House
National Patriotic Party (NPP)	468,443	75.33	21	49
Unity Party (UP)	59,557	9.57	3	7
All Liberia Coalition Party (ALCOP)	25,059	4.03	2	3
Alliance of Political Parties (ALLIANCE)	15,969	2.57	0	2
United People's Party (UPP)	15,604	2.51	0	2
Liberian People's Party (LPP)	10,010	1.61	0	1
National Democratic Party of Liberia	7,843	1.3	0	0
Liberian National Union	6,703	1.1	0	0
People's Democratic Party of Liberia	3,497	0.6	0	0
National Reformation Party	2,965	0.5	0	0
Progressive People's Party	2,142	0.3	0	0
Reformation Alliance Party	2,067	0.3	0	0
Free Democratic Party	2,016	0.3	0	0
Total	621,880	100	26	64
Source: Nohlen et al.

Note: The Alliance of Political Parties was a coalition of the Liberian Action Party (LAP) and Liberia Unification Party (LUP).

See also

• History of Liberia
• First Liberian Civil War

References

1. Liberia: Parliamentary Chamber: House of Representatives: Elections held in 1997 Inter-Parliamentary Union
2. Nohlen, D, Krennerich, M & Thibaut, B (1999) Elections in Africa: A data handbook, pp515-518 ISBN 0-19-829645-2
3. Left, Sarah (2003-08-04). "War in Liberia". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 2008-01-18.
4. "UNOMIL". Information Technology Section/Department of Public Information. 2001. Retrieved 2008-01-18.