Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (born October 29, 1938) is the[b] President-elect of Liberia[/b] following the 2005 election. Barring any exigencies, she will become the first elected female president of an African country.

Educated at Harvard, Johnson-Sirleaf became involved in government when she became Finance Minister in President William Tolbert's administration in 1970. While running for Senate in 1985, she spoke out against the military regime, and was sentenced to ten years in prison. Released after a short period, she left in exile and returned in 1997 in the capacity of an economist, working for the World Bank, and Citibank in Africa.

Initially supporting Charles Taylor's rebellion against General Samuel Doe, she later went on to oppose him, and ran against him in the 1997 presidential elections. She managed only 10% of the votes, as opposed to Taylor's 75%. Taylor charged her with treason. She campaigned for the removal of President Taylor from office, playing an active and supportive role in the transitional government, as the country prepared itself for the 2005 elections. With Taylor's departure, she returned to take over the leadership of the Unity Party.

In the first round of 2005 voting, she came second with 175,520 votes, putting her through to the runoff vote on November 8 against former footballer George Weah. On November 11th, the National Electoral Commission of Liberia declared Johnson-Sirleaf to be President-elect of Liberia, while her opponent, George Weah, refused to concede and filed a writ of prohibition with the Liberian Supreme Court to halt the ballot counting.

[img]http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk.nyud.net:8090/media/images/41007000/jpg/_41007324_ellenfist416afp.jpg[/img]

About her: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Johnson-Sirleaf
See Also: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4395978.stm
Her campaign website: http://www.ellenforpresident.org/

I have two things to say to this:
1) Wow!
2) Women in the house, what were you doing when all this was going on?

Cuz it's no biggie!! we just starting!!! kekere ni yen!!!!

wow!@ seun, i'm busy gettin my education or wat else do you expect us to do?

About time! She is equal to the task, I wish her all the best.

A good thing. She's always been an independent voice in Liberian politics. And contrary to Weah, she did not sollicit the former teenage soldiers to [i]support [/i]her campaign.

WOMEN RULE!!!







I THINK NIGERIA NEEDS A FEMALE PRESIDENT

Me too...Nigeria very much needs a female president!!!!!!!!!!Even the guys shouldn't doubt that.

I doubt the gender of our president is enough to surmount our insurmountable problems in nigeria.

Women rule!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Forward always, backward never!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we'll conquer the world!!!!!! it's just a matter of time.

MEN RULE!!!!!!! GO MEN!!

By the way, weah didnt solicit teenageers for his campaign (most cant vote anyway). They supported him because he represents the mases. ms johnson represents the oppressors, and has been aligned with former butchers like doe and taylor. that doesnt mean she wont be a good leader, but let's not distort thier stories

obong:

By the way, weah didnt solicit teenageers for his campaign (most can't vote anyway). They supported him because he represents the mases.

My bad, wrong wording.
They rather supported him because he is the former football superstar Georges Weah, then because he represents the masses. Anyway, of these teenagers, very few were LURD, most were former Taylor foot soldiers. I was feeling uneasy when watching a Weah rally on TV. I've got a Liberian Mandingo friend who didn't feel at ease either.

obong:

ms johnson represents the oppressors, and has been aligned with former butchers like doe and taylor. that doesnt mean she wont be a good leader, but let's not distort their stories

Weah didn't have any political past before entering the race, so he indeed didn't align himself with any of the former politicians in Liberia. As for Ms. Johnson, she quickly distanced herself from them when it became clear that they were not going to bring any improvements. All older Liberian politicians are somewhat interconnected, even Taylor was part of a Doe cabinet.

I THINK NIGERIA NEEDS A FEMALE PRESIDENT

I'm troubled by statements like this. Why should the gender of the president matter more than their intelligence, charisma, knowledge or political skills? It's almost as bad as saying Nigeria needs a <insert name of favoured ethnic group here> president.

Ka:

I'm troubled by statements like this. Why should the gender of the president matter more than their intelligence, charisma, knowledge or political skills? It's almost as bad as saying Nigeria needs a <insert name of favoured ethnic group here> president.

It's not bad for there to be equal (or something approximate to it) representation among major groups in politics. one side can't run the show and leave the others in the dark. Of course there are intelligent and charismatic individuals among females AND specific ethnic groups therefore, there's nothing wrong with saying "Nigeria needs a <insert name of favoured ethnic group here> president." especially if the ethnic group has been deprived for years in that position.

i wish Mrs Sirleaf goodluck! i'm proud of her!

the original poster misspelled the woman's name

anyway, its wrong to seek women or any ethnicity in power just because its been an unpowerful group for nay lenght of time. especially in afric.a we dont have time for unqualified leaders

Why do we always have old people as presidents in Africa?? This 67 yr old woman doesn't have any strength again. What's she looking for? Me thinks younger people (male or female) should be given the chance and not people who have just few more years to live on earth.
It's a nice start anyway.

Liberians are wise in their decision ;a best decision a country who doesnot want another dictatorship could have made.Women are emotionaal and make a better leader.Hope for that in Nigeria

goodguy:

Why do we always have old people as presidents in Africa?? This 67 yr old woman doesn't have any strength again. What's she looking for? Me thinks younger people (male or female) should be given the chance and not people who have just few more years to live on earth.
It's a nice start anyway.

Older people have wisdom and perspective, especially if they're still very active and quick witted, which is certainly the case for Ms. Johnson.
This is exactly what Liberia needs after the last decades of insanity.

gender has become almost irrelevant, what every country needs is someone who can actually do the job and I ma glad Liberia realised that

I agree with you legs. thats very true. this is one thing Nigerians have failed to realize. all most of us think about is gender and ethnicity, and this has not taken us anywhere!

NAIJA IS JUST THE WAY IT IS EVEN
IF THE PRESIDENT WOULD BE A[b] HERMAPHRODITE[/b]
FORGET IT.

Nobody thinks about the gender. People - both men and women - just assume by default that the leaders should be men and so it is. It is not as if there has been a woman who came out and said "I want to be Governor/President" and people said "oh no, we won't vote for you because you're a woman". But we have women in the national assembly, because for some reason women decided to contest for those positions.

Seun:

Nobody thinks about the gender. People - both men and women - just assume by default that the leaders should be men and so it is.

people don't just assume by default that the leaders should be men. they just assume that it will be men.
It's been something that's been in existence for countless centuries.

just like you say it's cold in december. . you just assume that it will be cold because it has always been cold. . not that it will be cold because you want it to be cold!! . .

No it's not really about gender, yet I have to say that the time has been over due for the balance.

Men have always been in high leadership positions throughout the world. The current conditions of the world calls out for consideration, compassion, inclusiveness, nurturing and more. All logic and no emotion has lead us to much destruction. I'm not saying a male can not accomplish these things, I'm saying that it's more commonly found in women as our primary way of thinking and making decisions.

The world needs this balance. Liberia has set an example for the world.
Now we have always been a people of great Kings and Queens with great dynasties, so this is not new, it's just been a while.

Now the whole world will be watching this woman under a microscope being very critical.

I think the Liberians made a wise choice. I for one would not have voted for a washed up old dumb ex-jock. He would be first in line to loot the treasury and then declare martial law when you check him on the issue. He is along the lines of G. Bush!!! Another dumb-ss. This woman is articulate, she will be able to sit at the table and talk authoritatively with the business leaders around the world. Any developing land needs investment so that building can take place. This will make jobs for the masses and eventually bring in hard currency. Money talks! BS walks! I think gender is irrelevent. Do you remember Thatcher of England? I never liked her politics ( like Reagan in drag ) but you have to admit she was one iron fisted MF'er. She did'nt take crap from the opposition or anyone else. Remember Bhutto of Pakistan? They both were good leaders. For myself if a woman ran for pres of the USA, if she and I agree on the issues, she will get my vote. I am just tired of the same old BS, the same old lies, the same old corruption, the same old hypocrisy. Why not go for something different. Remember, its quality that counts.

Do you accept that a lady should be a president!!!!!!

I Do, eventhough i wanted George Wiah to win!!!!!

Are  you an Americo Liberian? Would you, and do you think other Liberians,  would have a problem with a large mass of middle and upper class African-Americans moving to Liberia? Yes I do accept a female being president.

lets hope madam ellen wont promote the narrow interests of the Americo Liberians ; which is simply to hold on to power , plunder the nation, and remain a dominant small liberian elite.

The Americo Liberian domination of Liberia for hundereds of years is the genesis of the liberian problem

hehe i think she is a LovePeddler for american aid dollars

mrs sirleaf, the US will doesnt care that monrovia is named after james munroe, your future is with africa not your former slave masters, stop pandering to their desires, are you a househelp?

lmao


Other African Countries should emulate this.