General elections were held in Liberia on 11 October 2011, with a second round of the presidential election on 8 November. The presidency, as well as all seats in the House of Representatives and half of the seats in the Senate, were up for election. The election was overseen by the National Elections Commission (NEC).

The results of the legislative elections and first-round presidential election were released on 25 October 2011. In the legislative elections, the Unity Party maintained its plurality in both the House and the Senate, but as in the previous election, no party secured a majority in either chamber. Incumbent retention was low; only two of the fourteen incumbent senators seeking to retain their seats won reelection, while only twenty-five of the fifty-nine House incumbents running were reelected.

In the first round of the presidential election, incumbent President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of the Unity Party led the presidential field with 43.9% of the vote, followed by Congress for Democratic Change candidate Winston Tubman with 32.7%. As no candidate received an absolute majority, Sirleaf and Tubman stood in a run-off election held on 8 November 2011. Tubman alleged that the first round had been rigged in Sirleaf's favor and called on his supporters to boycott the run-off. The Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa reported a turnout of 61% as compared to the 74.9% turnout in the first round.EISA technical assessment team and election observer mission report, The NEC declared Sirleaf the winner of the run-off on 15 November 2011 with 90.7% of the vote.

Accreditation

Candidates Accreditation of candidates by the NEC was held from 20 July to 15 August 2011 at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex in Paynesville. Candidates were required to submit a letter of intent, sworn declarations of citizenship and domicile, a tax clearance, financial disclosure forms and a valid form of identification.

Following the conclusion of the accreditation period, NEC Chairman James M. Fromayan noted that of the 2,700 registration forms delivered to political aspirants, only 920 had been returned. He said that no grace period would be allowed for late applicants.

Observers The NEC accredited 799 international observers from 31 countries and international organizations to monitor the elections, including the African Union, European Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Open Society Initiative for West Africa, National Democratic Institute, International Foundation for Electoral Systems, Search for Common Ground and personnel from the American, French, German, Spanish and Swedish embassies. A team from the Carter Center was led by former Nigerian President Yakubu Gowon. Additionally, 3,851 local observers from 68 national organizations and media outlets were accredited by the NEC to observe the elections.

Presidential election

Nominations In January 2010, incumbent President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf confirmed that she would run for a second term in office while speaking to a joint session of the Legislature. Sirleaf was renominated as the Unity Party's (UP) presidential candidate at the party's national convention on 31 October 2010. That same day, Vice President Joseph Boakai was nominated by Sirleaf and confirmed by the delegates to be the party's vice presidential candidate. The True Whig Party endorsed the Unity Party presidential ticket on 16 June 2011.

George Weah, who lost to Sirleaf in the 2005 runoff election, confirmed his intention to run for president in 2011. The third-place candidate from the 2005 elections, Liberty Party leader Charles Brumskine, also announced his plans to run for president. On 25 October 2010, the two candidates agreed following a meeting in Accra to create a coalition between the Liberty Party and Weah's Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), fielding a single list of candidates in the legislative elections. Additionally, Weah and Brumskine agreed to run against Sirleaf on a single ticket. However, this deal ultimately fell apart, and the Liberty Party announced in February 2011 that Senator Franklin Siakor had been chosen as Brumskine's running mate for the election.

On 1 May 2011, the CDC nominated Winston Tubman, the nephew of former President William Tubman and a Harvard-trained lawyer who finished fourth in the 2005 presidential election, as its candidate for president, with Weah as his running mate.

Prince Johnson, the former rebel leader of the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia during the First Liberian Civil War and a Senator from Nimba County, also announced his candidacy for the presidency, forming the National Union for Democratic Progress as his party. Johnson originally chose Grand Cape Mount County Senator Abel Massalay as his running mate, but fired him in January 2011. Johnson then chose Lavala Supuwood, a prominent attorney, as his vice presidential candidate. Massalay later endorsed Sirleaf's bid.

The New Deal Movement joined with the National Patriotic Party (NPP), the National Democratic Party of Liberia (NDPL), the Liberian People's Party, the United People's Party, the Liberia Equal Rights Party and the Labor Party of Liberia to form the National Democratic Coalition (NDC), which planned to nominate a single presidential ticket and a single list of legislative candidates. On 12 February 2011, New Deal nominated Dew Mayson, a former Liberian ambassador and university professor, as its standard bearer, and NDC had been expected to nominate Mayson as its presidential candidate. However, New Deal suspended Mayson as its standard bearer on 6 July 2011 following for unspecified reasons, only to later reinstate him in less than a week later. Mayson later told reporters that there was an internal debate within the NDC over whether to contest the presidential election or to solely field candidates for the legislative elections. The day prior to the NDC's convention, the NPP and the NDPL withdrew from the coalition, and on 17 July, the remaining members of the coalition nominated Mayson as their presidential candidate.

Following their withdrawal from the NDC, the NDPL announced on 2 August 2011 that it would support the Unity Party presidential ticket, while NPP voted on 3 August to support the CDC ticket.

Nathaniel Barnes, leader of the Liberian Destiny Party and Liberian Ambassador to the United Nations, originally announced his intention to challenge Sirleaf for the presidency in December 2010, but announced in July 2011 that his party had decided not to field a presidential candidate.

Candidates Originally, NEC Chairman Fromayan stated that of the sixteen candidates who had filed for a presidential run, only 11 had listed a vice presidential nominee on their ticket, and that those candidates without running mates would be ineligible to run. However, the NEC published a list of provisional presidential candidates on 22 August 2011, listing all sixteen candidates, each with a running mate.

Gladys Beyan – Grassroot Democratic Party of Liberia Charles Brumskine – Liberty Party Chea Cheapoo – Progressive People's Party James Chelley – Original Congress Party of Liberia Simeon Freeman – Movement for Progressive Change James Guseh – Citizens Unification Party Prince Yormie Johnson – National Union for Democratic Progress Ellen Johnson Sirleaf – Unity PartyMarcus Roland Jones – Victory for Change Party Jonathan A. Mason – Union of Liberian Democrats Dew Mayson – National Democratic Coalition Manjerngie Ndebe – Liberia Reconstruction Party Kennedy Sandy – Liberia Transformation Party Togba-Nah Tipoteh – Freedom Alliance Party of Liberia Winston Tubman – Congress for Democratic Change Hananiah Zoe – Liberia Empowerment Party

Campaign Sirleaf's campaign has highlighted the progress made in several areas since her inauguration, with Sirleaf using the Liberian English catchphrase "da my area" to emphasize her expertise in nation building. Sirleaf has emphasized her administration's work in relieving the country's debt, paying civil servants on time, rebuilding the Armed Forces of Liberia, improving basic services and infrastructure, and restoring Liberia's international standing.

Brumskine campaigned on a platform based on four pillars: reconciliation, reform, recovery and rebuilding. He stated that if elected, he would work to decentralize the government, as well as decrease the powers of what he called the "imperial presidency." He also proposed creating a national peace corp in which students would travel to different counties in order to promote development and reconciliation, as well as a "mobile clinic" where teams of doctors would travel from village to village. Brumskine criticized Sirleaf for her financial involvement in the First Liberian Civil War and for reneging on her pledge in 2005 to only serve one term. He further stated that if he lost the 2011 election, he would retire from politics to make way for what he called "a new and younger generation of Liberians."

Tubman stated that one of the most pressing issues facing the country was reconciling the Americo-Liberian minority and the indigenous majority, warning that a failure to do so would lead to another civil war. With regards to policy, Tubman noted that he would pursue many of the same policies as Sirleaf, but argued that his credentials made him a better choice to lead the nation. He also criticized Sirleaf for her past involvement in the country's civil conflict.

Legislative election As a result of the 2010 Threshold Bill, which revised the apportionment scheme used in the 2005 election, an additional nine seats were added to the House of Representatives. On the basis of the 2008 Census, Montserrado County gained three additional seats, Nimba County gained two seats, and Bong, Grand Bassa, Margibi and Lofa Counties each gained one seat. In all other counties, the electoral districts remained unchanged.

Pre-election controversies

Alleged analysis On 9 July, the Liberian newspaper FrontPageAfrica published a pre-election analysis allegedly commissioned by the Unity Party that discussed Sirleaf's expected vote tally in the first round of elections. The report, attributed to law professor Larry Gibson of the University of Maryland, projected Sirleaf to earn 37.7% of the vote in the first round and highlighted the importance of gaining the endorsement of Dew Mayson and Prince Johnson in the second round, as well as stating that Unity should maintain its "connections" at the NEC. Sirleaf's office denied that the analysis had been authorized by or submitted to Sirleaf, saying "The so-called email contains fabrications and lies, and attempts to create confusion in the minds of Liberians as they embark upon this year's democratic process." Gibson also denied authoring the analysis, noting that while he had assisted Sirleaf during her 2005 campaign, he had not worked for her or any other Liberian political campaign since then.

Voter fraud The NEC announced on 9 August 2011 that it had discovered more than 10,000 people on its voter rolls who had registered more than once to vote in the elections. The NEC forwarded the names to the Ministry of Justice for prosecution for voter fraud. The Justice Ministry later confirmed that it was investigating the matter.

Pre-election violence Senator Gloria Musu-Scott of the Unity Party claimed that her vehicle convoy had been attacked on 9 August 2011 while travelling to Monrovia from Maryland County, where she had been renominated as the Unity Party's candidate for the county's Senate seat. According to Scott and one of her drivers, she had changed vehicles when the one she was in had broken down. After she left the broken vehicle and its driver behind, five masked men approached the driver looking for her, searching the vehicle before leaving. Scott stated that she had reported the incident to the Justice Ministry for investigation.