Editing Politics of Liberia (section)

==Political developments since 1980==
[[File:Executive Mansion Apr 09.JPG|thumb|300px|The [[Executive Mansion (Liberia)|Executive Mansion]] has been the home of Liberian Presidents since its construction in 1964. It has not been used since a fire in 2006.]]

Between 1980 and 2006, [[Liberia]] was governed by a series of military and transitional governments. The president of the last of these, [[Charles G. Taylor|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 [[2005 Liberian general election]]'').

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.

[[List of political parties in Liberia|Political parties]] remained banned until 1984. [[Liberia elections, 1985|Elections]] were held on 15 October 1985 in which Doe's [[National Democratic Party of Liberia]] (NDPL) was declared the 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 12 November 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, Liberia|Monrovia]].

On 24 December 1989, a small band of rebels led by Doe's former procurement chief, [[Charles G. Taylor|Charles Taylor]] invaded Liberia from [[Ivory Coast]]. Taylor and his [[National Patriotic Front of Liberia|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 Liberian Civil War|First]] and [[Second Liberian Civil War]], which was one of Africa's bloodiest, claimed the lives of more than 200,000 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.<ref name=Junger2003>{{cite magazine|last=Junger|first=Sebastian|title=Liberia's Savage Harvest|magazine=Vanity Fair|volume=9|issue=518|pages=276–286|date=October 2003|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2003/10/liberia200310}}</ref>

An Interim Government of National Unity (IGNU) was formed in [[The Gambia|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 [[Liberia elections, 1997|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.

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. On 18 August 2003, the warring parties signed the [[Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement]] which marked the political end of the conflict.

The international community again intervened and helped set up a transitional government (National Transitional Government of Liberia) which was led by [[Gyude Bryant]] until the [[Liberian general election, 2005|Liberian general election of 2005]].

For more than a year, over 9,000 census-takers combed the densely forested nation mapping every structure. For three days starting 21 March 2008, they revisited each dwelling and counted the inhabitants.[https://web.archive.org/web/20080325002751/http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/03/20/Liberia.census.ap/index.html]

In November 2011, President [[Ellen Johnson Sirleaf|Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf]] was [[2011 Liberian general election|re-elected]] for a second six-year term.<ref>{{cite news |title=Sirleaf seen winning Liberia run-off vote |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-liberia-election-preview-idUSTRE7A62BD20111107 |work=Reuters |date=7 November 2011 |language=en}}</ref> 
Following the [[2017 Liberian general election]], former professional [[Forward (association football)#Striker|football striker]] [[George Weah]], considered one of the greatest African players of all time,<ref name="journey">{{cite news |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/2018/01/23/from-football-king-to-liberian-president-george-weahs-journey_a_23340918/ |title=From Football King To Liberian President – George Weah's Journey |work=Huffington Post |author1=Nkosinathi Shazi |date=January 23, 2018 |access-date=October 3, 2018 |archive-date=November 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116174121/https://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/2018/01/23/from-football-king-to-liberian-president-george-weahs-journey_a_23340918/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Top 10 Greatest African Strikers |url=http://www.joburgpost.co.za/2017/06/06/top-10-greatest-african-strikers/ |access-date=August 27, 2018 |work=Johannesburg Post |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190220025546/http://www.joburgpost.co.za/2017/06/06/top-10-greatest-african-strikers/ |archive-date=February 20, 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref> was sworn in as president on January 22, 2018, becoming the fourth youngest serving president in Africa.<ref name="Listwand">{{cite news|title=Top 10 youngest serving presidents in Africa, 2018|url=https://listwand.com/2018/01/top-10-youngest-presidents-in-africa-updated/|agency=Listwand|date=October 3, 2018|access-date=October 26, 2019|archive-date=October 3, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003125007/https://listwand.com/2018/01/top-10-youngest-presidents-in-africa-updated/|url-status=dead}}</ref> The inauguration marked Liberia's first fully democratic transition in 74 years.<ref name="BBC News">{{cite news|title=George Weah sworn in as Liberia's president|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-42773165|agency=BBC|date=March 22, 2018}}</ref> Weah cited fighting corruption, reforming the economy, combating illiteracy, and improving life conditions as the main targets of his presidency.<ref name="BBC News"/> However, opposition leader [[Joseph Boakai]] defeated George Weah in the tightly contested [[2023 Liberian general election|2023 presidential election]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Liberia's George Weah concedes presidential election defeat to Joseph Boakai |url=https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20231118-liberia-s-george-weah-concedes-presidential-election-ahead-of-final-result |work=France 24 |date=18 November 2023 |language=en}}</ref> On 22 January 2024, Joseph Boakai was sworn in as Liberia’s new  president.<ref>{{cite news |title=Boakai sworn in as new Liberia president after victory over Weah |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/22/boakai-sworn-in-as-new-liberia-president-after-victory-over-weah |work=Al Jazeera |language=en}}</ref>