{"id":22619,"date":"2022-09-02T15:21:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-02T15:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/elections-law-amendment-frightens-opposition"},"modified":"2022-09-02T15:21:00","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T15:21:00","slug":"elections-law-amendment-frightens-opposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/policy\/elections-law-amendment-frightens-opposition","title":{"rendered":"Elections Law amendment frightens opposition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Liberia. <\/strong><\/span>By Lewis S. Teh<\/p>\n

The Liberian Senate\u2019s amendment to the New Elections Law declaring all election magistrates\u2019 seats vacant nearing crucial elections appears to send chills in the spine of an opposition lawmaker.<\/p>\n

Lofa County Electoral District #3 Representative Clarence Massaquoi of the Unity Party (UP) expressed fear that the Senate\u2019s decision is not feasible for the law, peace, and maintenance of democracy here.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think this is not feasible on the side of the law, on the side of peace, on the side of maintenance of democracy including running a credible election,\u201d Rep. Massaquoi told reporters on Capitol Hill recently.<\/p>\n

The opposition Unity Party lawmaker alleged that the Senate\u2019s decision is an attempt by the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) to remove serving election magistrates that are not aligned with CDC\u2019s political agenda.<\/p>\n

He lamented that declaring election magistrates\u2019 seats vacant would make the CDC government introduce a new recruitment process that will see the coming in of new individuals that will be aligned to the ruling party.<\/p>\n

Massaquoi said Liberia is fifteen months away from a crucial election when the Senate amends the Elections Law.<\/p>\n

According to him, the timing in amending the elections law is troubling and unacceptable.<\/p>\n

\u201d This law should not be accepted particularly for a country that has gone through a period of political marginalization,\u201d Massaquoi urged.<\/p>\n

The Lofa County Representative argued that generally most reforms are normally done after an election process, and not before a major election.<\/p>\n

He warned that the amendment of the Elections Law sends a strong signal for every national leader who means well for the country to express their opinion.<\/p>\n

He has strongly rejected the Senate\u2019s decision and vowed that he and some like-minded lawmakers at the House of Representatives will resist the instrument.<\/p>\n

The Liberian Senate recently made several amendments to the New Elections Law after the House of Representatives sent the instrument there for concurrence. Relieving all election magistrates of their post after 90 days of the passage of the law was part of the Senate\u2019s amendments.<\/p>\n

The amendment indicated that the magistrates could reapply if they wished.<\/p>\n

But Massaquoi said it was unfortunate for the Senate to come up with such a decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though I respect that august body, I\u2019m sure this law will be one of those that might have the strongest public resistance from the floor at the House of Representatives,\u201d said Massaquoi.<\/p>\n

Massaquoi stated that he does not think that anything that will affect the peace should come from people that are considered lawmakers.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Liberia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Liberia. By Lewis S. Teh The Liberian Senate\u2019s amendment to the New Elections Law declaring all election magistrates\u2019 seats vacant nearing crucial elections appears to send chills in the spine of an opposition lawmaker. Lofa County Electoral District #3 Representative Clarence Massaquoi of the Unity Party (UP) expressed fear that the Senate\u2019s decision […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":22618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-22619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-liberia","tag-liberia"],"yoast_head":"\nElections Law amendment frightens opposition - Liberia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/elections-law-amendment-frightens-opposition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Elections Law amendment frightens opposition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press – Liberia. 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