Monrovia, Liberia – The Supreme Court of Liberia has trashed the collaborating political parties’ petition requesting the High Court to Probe the Constitutionality of the National Election Commission just ended Biometric Voters Registration Process.
As established, the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) petitioned the Supreme Court in early March to investigate the validity of the national elections commission’s ongoing biometric voter registrations without the demarcating constitutional electoral constituency.
On Wednesday, April 12, 2023, Chief Justice Sie-Nyene G. Yuoh gave the court’s opinion, stating that there was no justification for interfering with the registration process. She noted that the National Election Commission is not in violation of the constitutional clause pertaining to Articles 80 D and E, according to Chief Justice Yuoh.
Article 80[D] of the constitution states that “Each 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.”
While section E, also state that Immediately following a national census and before the next election, the Elections Commission shall reapportion the constituencies 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 high court chief judge further said that while the NCE has a duty under article 80 (E) to reapportion constituencies the said duty is not self executing.
The Supreme Court argued that the completion and submission to the legislature of a national census report are necessary requirements before the duty to reapportion constituencies may be carried out.
However, the Supreme Court has disclosed that, in accordance with Article 80 E, the NEC is responsible for reapportioning the constituencies after the legislature establishes the threshold.
Reported by: G. Watson Richards
Contact: +231880381808
