FOUNDATIONAL ELECTION ARCHIVE
Liberia’s first postwar legislature
On 11 October 2005, Liberians elected all 30 senators and all 64 members of the House of Representatives alongside the presidential election. These were the first legislative elections after the 2003 Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the country’s civil-war transition.
House of Representatives
The Congress for Democratic Change won the largest House bloc but no party secured a majority. The 64 seats were distributed as follows:
- Congress for Democratic Change (CDC): 15
- Liberty Party (LP): 9
- Unity Party (UP): 8
- Coalition for the Transformation of Liberia (COTOL): 8
- Independent candidates: 7
- Alliance for Peace and Democracy (APD): 5
- National Patriotic Party (NPP): 4
- New Deal Movement (NDM): 3
- All Liberia Coalition Party (ALCOP): 2
- National Reformation Party (NRP): 1
- United Democratic Alliance (UDA): 1
- National Democratic Party of Liberia (NDPL): 1
The House election recorded 935,361 valid votes, 52,550 invalid or blank ballots and 987,911 total ballots, representing turnout of approximately 76.5% among 1,291,541 registered legislative voters.
Liberian Senate
Two senators were elected from each of Liberia’s 15 counties. The 30 seats were distributed as follows:
- Coalition for the Transformation of Liberia (COTOL): 7
- Unity Party (UP): 4
- Alliance for Peace and Democracy (APD): 3
- Congress for Democratic Change (CDC): 3
- Independent candidates: 3
- Liberty Party (LP): 3
- National Patriotic Party (NPP): 3
- National Democratic Party of Liberia (NDPL): 2
- All Liberia Coalition Party (ALCOP): 1
- National Reformation Party (NRP): 1
Political significance
The fragmented result created a plural legislature requiring negotiation across parties and independents. Edwin Melvin Snowe was subsequently elected Speaker of the House, while Cletus Segbe Wotorson became President Pro Tempore of the Senate.