Many firsts in Liberia's historic presidential election

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In Africa's first independent country, home to Africa's first single-party state, Africa's first female president is preparing for the country's first democratic transition of power in over 70 years, but is accused of improperly interfering in the first round of voting.

The election, whose first round was held October 10, can be correctly characterized as the first step toward "the first time in recent memory that a democratically elected Liberian president will hand power to a similarly elected head of state," since the last time such a transition happened was back in 1944.

Liberia's history as an independent country began back in 1847, making it the first independent country on the continent. Prior to that it was a colony of the United States, settled by free-born black Americans and freed slaves.

Over the next hundred years, presidential transfers of power occurred on a regular basis, although the True Whig Party dominated politics from 1878-1980, rendering the country a de facto single party state. There were seventeen presidential transitions from 1847-1944, meaning an average of 5-6 years per president (presidential terms were 2 years until 1907). Then came 73 years without electoral transitions: President Tubman served from 1944 until his death in 1971, succeeded by his Vice President, Tolbert, who was overthrown in a bloody coup in 1980 led by Doe, who was assassinated in 1990 at the beginning of the first civil war (1989-1997), which was followed closely by a second civil war (1999-2003).

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf won her first six-year term in 2005 with 20% of the vote in the first round and 59% in the run-off against George Weah (the former soccer player candidate who won a plurality on Oct. 10 and will face off against Sirleaf's current vice president in the upcoming second round). In the 2011 election, the runoff election was boycotted by the opposition. Sirleaf is popular among international donors and investors but less popular in Liberia, due to continuing corruption and economic challenges. 

Sirleaf has had a falling out with her party. She declined to endorse her vice-president, Joseph Boakai, who has distanced himself from Sirleaf's administration and placed second to Weah in the first round. Some suspect Sirleaf supports Weah. The ruling party accuses Sirleaf of interfering in the first round vote, a charge the president rejects. In a preliminary report, observers described the election as "Generally Peaceful and Transparent."

The second round will be held November 7.

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