Samuel Doe

In the elections, nine political parties sought to challenge Doe's National Democratic Party of Liberia (NDPL), but only three were allowed to take part. Doe was elected with 51% of the vote, and the NDPL won 21 of the 26 Senate seats and 51 of the 64 seats in the House of Representatives. Foreign observers declared the elections fraudulent and suggested that Jackson Doe of the Liberian Action Party should have been declared the victor, and most of the elected opposition candidates refused to take their seats.

Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Chester Crocker testified before the United States Congress that the election was imperfect but that at least it was a movement toward democracy. He further justified his statement with the claim that, in any case, all African elections were known to be rigged at that time.

Gen. Thomas Quiwonkpa, who had been a leader of the 1980 coup along with Doe, attempted to seize power on November 12 1985; the attempt failed after fighting in Monrovia and Quiwonkpa was killed. Doe's corrupt and repressive government became even more repressive after the attepted coup, shutting down newspapers and banning political activity. The government's mistreatment of certain ethnic groups, particularly the Gio (or Dan) and the Mano in the north (Quiwonkpa was an ethnic Gio), resulted in divisions and violence among indigenous populations who until then had coexisted relatively peacefully. Read Less