Liberia’s 2011 Presidential and Legislative Elections
Liberians voted in presidential and legislative elections on 11 October 2011. Because no presidential candidate received an absolute majority, a runoff was held on 8 November between incumbent President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of the Unity Party and Winston Tubman of the Congress for Democratic Change.
First-round presidential result
- Registered voters: 1,798,930.
- Votes cast: 1,288,716 (71.6% turnout).
- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf — Unity Party: 530,020 votes (43.9%).
- Winston Tubman — Congress for Democratic Change: 394,370 votes (32.7%).
- Prince Y. Johnson — National Union for Democratic Progress: 139,786 votes (11.6%).
Presidential runoff
- Total votes cast: 694,412 (38.6% turnout).
- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf / Joseph Boakai — Unity Party: 607,618 votes (90.7%).
- Winston Tubman / George Weah — CDC: 62,207 votes (9.3%).
The CDC called for a boycott of the runoff. The Carter Center reported that the election period was affected by the boycott, violence on the eve of the runoff and low second-round turnout. NEC certified Sirleaf and Boakai as President-elect and Vice President-elect.
Legislative elections
All 73 House seats and 15 of the Senate’s 30 seats were contested. The Unity Party won the largest House bloc with 24 seats, followed by the CDC with 11. In the 15 Senate contests, the Unity Party and National Patriotic Party each won four seats, while the CDC won two.
Sources and verification
Results and turnout are based on NEC’s final first-round report, the NEC runoff results portal, the Carter Center final report, and IPU parliamentary records.
Editorial note: the unusually high runoff margin must be read alongside the opposition boycott and substantially lower turnout. Liberia Civic presents both the certified result and the context.