N-type doping of poly(2-methoxy-5-(2'-ethyl-hexyloxy)-p-phenylene vinylene) (MEH-PPV) with decamethylcobaltocene (DMC) strongly improves the electron transport due to filling of the electron traps. Unexpectedly, the n-type doping simultaneously suppresses the hole transport in MEH-PPV. We demonstrate that this strong reduction of the hole transport originates from unionized DMC molecules that act as hole traps. This hole trapping effect explains why the current of a DMC-doped MEH-PPV polymer light-emitting diode is orders of magnitude lower than that of the undoped device. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 49: 1745-1749, 2011