Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia's 24th and current President

On January 16, 2006, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was sworn in as the 24th and current President, making her the first elected female president in Africa.

 

 The 1847 Constitution denied suffrage to the indigenous population by requiring voters to own real estate. As a result, the presidency was exclusively held by Americo-Liberians until 1980, when a military coup led by Samuel Doe, an ethnic Krahn, overthrew and assassinated President William Tolbert.  The presidency was vacant from 1980 to 1986, with executive power held by Doe as the head of the People's Redemption Council. Doe was later elected president in the 1985 general election, making him the first president outside of the Americo-Liberian elite. Doe was later overthrown and executed in 1990 following the commencement of the First Liberian Civil War, during which the presidency remained vacant.