Immediately before the 1980 Liberian coup d'état, Doe served as Nimba County's senior senator, but when the government was overthrown, he lost his office, was tried for treason, and imprisoned at the Barclay Training Center. Rebel leader Samuel Doe (no relation) released him from prison at the end of June 1980 but forbade him to leave the country. In the country's 1985 elections, he ran for president as the candidate of the Liberian Action Party against Samuel Doe, who had been the country's head of state since the coup. According to official results, Samuel received a tiny majority of votes in the election. However, many foreign observers alleged fraud and suggested that Jackson was the true victor; according to organizations such as the BBC, Jackson had won an absolute majority of votes cast nationwide. Jackson's running mate was Emmanuel S. Kroma.