Editorial: Compel The NEC To Proceed To Conduct The Processes Of The Elections Only According To The Mandate Of The Constitution

MONTHS AGO IMPORTANT stakeholders to the nation’s peace and democracy began cautioning about the possibility of a Constitutional crisis in the wake of such issues as the implementation of the National Housing and Population Census, pre-campaigning in violation of the election guidelines of the National Elections Commission (NEC), election violence, among others. The Election Coordinating Committee (ECC) was one of such stakeholders. Now, in the cautionary leadership of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP), the nation faces such a crisis. The CPP has written the Supreme Court of Liberia on this issue seeking the court’s intervention, not to delay the elections but rather to ensure that the NEC conducts the processes of the election according to the Constitution.

IN A STATEMENT released on Friday, March 17, the CPP cited Article 80 (c) (d) and (e) of the Liberian Constitution as those being violated by the actions of the NEC, and asked the nation’s highest court to compel the NEC to proceed to conduct the processes of the elections only according to the mandate of the Constitution.

ARTICLE 80 (C) STATES that “every Liberian citizen shall have the right to be registered in a constituency, and to vote in public elections only in the constituency where registered…”, while (d) of the same Article, says a constituency “shall have an approximately equal population of 20,000, or such number of citizens as the Legislature shall prescribe in keeping with population growth and movements as revealed by a national census; provided that the total number of electoral constituencies in the Republic shall not exceed one hundred.”

ACCORDING TO (E), “Immediately following a national census and before the next elections, the Elections Commission shall reapportion the constituencies in accordance with the new population figures so that every constituency shall have as close to the same population as possible; provided, however, that a constituency must be solely within a county.”

THE OPPOSITION POLITICAL group said, despite various public objections over the un-Constitutional delays to conduct the census and concerns around the integrity of the results, the Liberian government insists that the census demanded by the Constitution has been conducted.

THE CPP, THEREFORE, contends that, although final results have not been announced, the announced preliminary results show significant changes in the growth and movements of the population and necessitates Constitutional actions to ensure adequate and proper representation of the Liberian people in their government.