REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 19 JULY 1997
===================================================================
Source: Mano Vision Newsletter website


NATIONAL SUMMARY
===================================================================
Candidate              Party                         Votes    %
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf  Unity Party                    59,073  09.5
Alhaji G V Kromah      All Liberian Coalition Party   20,494  03.3
Charles TAYLOR         National Peoples Party        468,232  75.3
Ten others                                            74,023  11.9
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Total                                                621,822
-------------------------------------------------------------------


The Mano Vision Newsletter comments on this election:

On Saturday 19 July 1997, an estimated 621,822 votes were cast in 
Liberia's presidential and legislative elections. A bitter seven-
year civil war has killed over 150,000 and forced many more into 
exile in countries around West Africa and elsewhere. This has meant 
that from a pre-war population of 2.5 million the number of 
eligible voters was around one-third. 

Funding for the elections came through a partnership of the United 
States and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and totalled $7.4 
million. 

The Organisation of African Unity (OAU) sent 15 observers to join 
the 40 strong Carter Centre team and ECOWAS observers. More than 
200 journalists from local and international print and electronic 
media covered the elections, reflecting world-wide interest in the 
future of the war-ravaged country. The journalists generally 
commended the legislative and presidential elections as successful 
and relatively fair.