The momentous 2005 Liberian elections followed a devastating civil war.
Remarkably, the winner of the presidential race was a woman, Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf, and the second-placed was a footballer, George Weah.
In addition, in stark contrast to many African elections in particular
those in neighbouring Sierra Leone, voting patterns were fragmented:
voters often chose President, Senators and Representatives from
different parties or independents. Much can be explained by a
remarkably level playing-field delivered by an interim coalition
government providing no incumbent. In 2011, the Johnson-Sirleaf
incumbency stood to significantly change the dynamics. This article
seeks to discern whether Liberian elections maintain their unusual
patterns, whether Liberia has joined the ranks of African patron-clientelist,
dominant-party or two-party systems, in particular compared
to that of Sierra Leone, or whether there are new twists in its democratic
development. / Full text of the article was made available on the 1st March 2015 at the end of the publisher's embargo.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/5641 |
| Date | 01 1900 |
| Creators | Harris, David, Lewis, T. |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article, published version paper |
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