Africa-Press – Liberia. The House of Representatives Has taken a major step that will lead to unprecedented changes to the new elections law if the Senate concurs with. On Thursday the House voted to astronomically increase the application and registration fees for all elected national positions.
For presidential candidates, the law, when amended will increase the fees by a whopping 600 percent – that is from US$2,500 to US$15,000; Vice President, US$10, 000 up from US$1,500. For the office of Senator, US$7,500 from US$750 while the office of the member of the House of Representatives increased to US$5,000 from the current US$500. All of these monies can be paid in its Liberian dollars equivalence.
The House took the decision based on the advice of it Joint Committee on the Elections Law Reform Bill, which include the Committee on Elections and Inauguration as the lead, the Committee on Good Governance and Government Reform, Committee on Judiciary and the Committee on Gender Equity, Child Development and Social Services.
The Joint Committee was tasked by plenary in January to review a bill submitted by Rep. Richard Nagbe Koon, amending the New Elections Law of Liberia and to report with a set of recommendations.
Submitted the bill to Plenary, Rep. Koon stated in a communication that the new provisions contained in the draft law are recommendations and proposals by major stakeholders including the Good Governance Commission, the National Elections Commission (NEC) Civil Society, national and international elections observation organizations, drawn up from series of electoral reform dialogues and seminars held with the House Committee on Elections and Inaugurations across the country over the last three years.
Delving Into the Bill
The bill, if passed will among other things, change the pattern of appointing the Election Commissioners, increase the number of voters at a voting precinct and increase registration fees for candidates vying for presidential, vice presidential and legislative seats. It also called for the establishment of a special institution to handle and adjudicate electoral complaints and give diaspora Liberians the right to vote.
Changes In NEC Appointment Pattern
In its current form, Chapter 2 of the Elections Law designates the National Elections Commission as an autonomous public commission established by the Constitution of Liberia, places it under the direction and management of seven commissioners appointed by the President of Liberia. It is headed by a chairperson and assisted by co-Chairperson. All of the appointments are being subject to Senate confirmation.
However, the proposed law is calling for the process of appointing the commissioners to begin with public vetting exercise that will be supervised by a seven-person recruitment panel. The panel will be set up by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia, and it include representation from civil society organizations working on elections, Inter-Religious Council of Liberia, women groups, the Liberia National Bar Association, Governance Commission, the Press Union of Liberia and the Liberian Business Association.
The Panel shall then submit a shortlist of names, at most nine of the successful candidates to the Chief Justices for onward submission to the President who shall appoint the Commissioners with one of them as Chairperson and another as Co-chairperson. For institutional memory and continuity, the draft laws calls for the appointment of Commissioners to be staggered, meaning the arrangement of their tenure should not start at the same time. All of the appointments shall be subject to the consent of the Senate.
It also called for the NEC commissioners to serve up to the age of 70, and shall be removed only through impeachment proceedings consistent with due process of law upon proof of misconduct.
Women Win Big
The draftlaw also calls for political party or coalition participating in an election to submit to the NEC its structure and the list of members of its governing body, which shall have no less than 30% from each gender.
In addition, it mandates a political party to have at least one woman contestant for the primary at the convention for each constituency it nominates a candidate.
“A political party or coalition whose list from its convention or primary does not satisfy the required quota for gender, such list shall be rejected by the NEC upon submission and the affected party may be entitled to re-submission within the required period,” the bill provides.
For More News And Analysis About Liberia Follow Africa-Press
