President of Liberia

The **President of the Republic of Liberia** is the head of state and government of Liberia. The president serves as the leader of the executive branch and as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Liberia.

The current President is Joseph Boakai since January 22, 2024.

## History

Between 1847 and 1980, the presidency was exclusively held by Americo-Liberians, the original American settlers of Liberia and their descendants. The original two-party system, with the Republican Party and the True Whig Party, ended in 1878, when the election of Anthony W. Gardiner marked the beginning of 102 years of single-party rule by the True Whigs.

Under the 1986 Constitution, the president is directly elected by eligible voters to a six-year term, which may be renewed once. Overall, 22 individuals have served as president. On January 22, 2018, George Weah was sworn in as the twenty-fifth and current president.

## Terms

Under the original 1847 Constitution, the president was elected to a two-year term, which was increased to four years on May 7, 1907. Under this amendment, a new president would serve for eight years and could be re-elected to unlimited four-year terms.

Currently, the president is elected by popular vote to a six-year term and is limited to two terms.

## Eligibility

To be eligible for office under the current Constitution, a presidential candidate must:
- be a natural born citizen of Liberia (per Art, 27(b) of the Constitution, citizenship is limited to "persons who are Negroes or of Negro descent");
- be at least thirty-five years old;
- own real property valued at least $25,000;
- have resided in Liberia for at least ten years.

## List of presidents of Liberia

|rowspan="2"|N|rowspan="2"|Portrait|rowspan="2"|President|colspan="2"|Term of office|rowspan="2"|Party|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
||**Joseph Jenkins Roberts**|||Independent||||||
||Nathaniel Brander|January 7, 1849|January 7, 1849|Independent||||||
||**Joseph Jenkins Roberts**|January 7, 1849|January 7, 1853|Independent||||||
||Anthony D. Williams|January 7, 1853|January 7, 1853|Independent||||||
||**Joseph Jenkins Roberts**|January 7, 1853|January 7, 1853|Independent||||||
||Anthony D. Williams|January 7, 1853|January 7, 1853|Independent||||||
||**Joseph Jenkins Roberts**|January 7, 1853|January 7, 1856|Independent||||||
||**Stephen Allen Benson**|||Independent||||||
||**Daniel Bashiel Warner**|||Republican Party||||||
||**James Spriggs Payne**|||Republican Party||||||
||**Edward James Roye**||October 26 , 1871|True Whig Party||||||
||Charles Benedict Dunbar          (1831 —1878)|October 26 , 1871|November 15,1871|Independent||||||
||Reginald Sherman ( 1838 — 1894)|November 15,1871|November 20,1871|Independent||||||
||Amos Herring (1794 — 1890)|November 20,1871|November 27,1871|Independent||||||
||**James Skivring Smith**|November 27,1871||True Whig Party||||||
||**Joseph Jenkins Roberts**|||Republican Party||||||
||**James Spriggs Payne**|||Republican Party||||||
||**Anthony W. Gardiner**|||Independent||||||
||**Alfred Francis Russell**|||True Whig Party||||||
||**Hilary R. W. Johnson**|||True Whig Party||||||
||**Joseph James Cheeseman**|||True Whig Party||||||
||**William D. Coleman**|||True Whig Party||||||
||**Garretson W. Gibson**|||True Whig Party||||||
||**Arthur Barclay**|||True Whig Party||||||
||**Daniel Edward Howard**|||True Whig Party||||||
||**Charles D. B. King**|||True Whig Party||||||
||**Edwin Barclay**|||True Whig Party||||||
||William Tubman**|||True Whig Party||||||
||**William Tolbert**|||True Whig Party||||||
|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|**Samuel Doe**|colspan="2"|Chairman of the People's Redemption Council|Military / National Democratic Party||||
|January 6, 1986|September 9, 1990|Military / National Democratic Party||||||||
||Prince Johnson                   (b. 1952)|September 9, 1990|November 1 , 1990|MilitaryConflicting claims||||||
||Charles Taylor                   (b. 1948)|November 1 , 1990|November 7 , 1990|MilitaryConflicting claims||||||
||David Nimley (b. 1940)|November 7 , 1990|November 9 , 1990|MilitaryConflicting claims||||||
||**Amos Sawyer**|colspan="2"|President of the Interim Government of National Unity of Liberia September 9, 1990 – March 7, 1994|Liberian People's Party||||||
||**David D. Kpormakpor**|colspan="2"|Chairman of the Council of State of Liberia|Independent||||||
||**Wilton G. S. Sankawulo**|colspan="2"|Chairman of the Council of State of Liberia|Independent||||||
||**Ruth Perry**|colspan="2"|Chairman of the Council of State of Liberia|Independent||||||
||Charles Taylor**|||National Patriotic Party||||||
||**Moses Blah**|||National Patriotic Party||||||
||**Gyude Bryant**|colspan="2"|Chairman of the Transitional Government of Liberia|Liberian Action Party||||||
||**Ellen Johnson Sirleaf**|||Unity Party||||||
||**Ellen Johnson Sirleaf**|||Unity Party||||||
||**Ellen Johnson Sirleaf**||January 22, 2018|Unity Party||||||
||**George Weah**||January 22, 2024|Congress for Democratic Change||||||
||Joseph Boakai (born 1944)|January 22, 2024|Incumbent|Unity Party||||||

## Other websites

- Enno Schulz, "Presidents of Liberia .

## Infobox (political post)

- **post**: President
- **body**: the
Republic of Liberia
- **insignia**: Flag of the President of Liberia.svg
- **insigniasize**: 150px
- **insigniacaption**: Presidential Standard
- **imagesize**: 165px
- **image**: President Joseph Boakai 2025.jpg
- **incumbent**: Joseph Boakai
- **incumbentsince**: January 22, 2024
- **style**: Mr. President

His Excellency

- **residence**: Executive Mansion
- **termlength**: Six years, renewable once
- **deputy**: Vice President of Liberia
- **formation**: Liberian Constitution of 1847, Constitution of Liberia
July 26, 1847
- **inaugural**: Joseph Jenkins Roberts
January 3, 1848
- **salary**: US$90,000 annually