Constitutional referendum in Liberia 2011

A constitutional referendum was held in Liberia on August 23, 2011 . The voters had to decide on four constitutional amendments . They related to:

• the term of office of judges
• planning elections
• the requirements for running for president

and

• on the electoral system.

The National Elections Commission (NEC) was responsible for the correct implementation of the vote.

The NEC announced on August 31 that none of the four constitutional amendments had been approved by the necessary two-thirds majority of voters. The leader of the Unity Party , Varney Sherman and Senator Fredrick Cherue from the County River Gee made then an input to the Supreme Court of the country with the aim of the NEC statement that the proposal had failed number 4 pick. Proposal number 4 said that in future the principle of a simple majority should apply to all elections except the presidential election (in contrast to the previous principle of an absolute majority ). They argued that the electoral commission unconstitutionally counted invalid ballot papers when calculating the results. The Supreme Court ruled on September 20 that the electoral commission had actually made a mistake in calculating the result and that proposal number 4 had been accepted.

background

Previously, on August 17, 2010, both houses of the two-chamber system of Liberia ( House of Representatives and Senate ) had passed the four amendments to the constitution. According to Article 91 (a) of the Liberian Constitution, these amendments had to be confirmed in a referendum by two thirds of the registered voters within one year . Article 91 (b) also states that even if several constitutional amendments are asked for in a referendum, each individual amendment must be voted on separately.

Originally, NEC chairman James M. Fromayan announced that the referendum would not be held before the parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for October 11, 2011 , as the estimated cost of holding both votes in close proximity would prohibit it. However, he revised his position in September 2010 on the grounds that of the estimated US $ 69 million cost of the 2011 elections, 65% could be taken from a fund designed to run runoffs for House seats. He stated that the fund was not set for runoff elections and that one of the constitutional amendments up for vote would also make (some) future runoffs superfluous if adopted. After the government and foreign donors had promised the funding, the election commission set August 23, 2011 as the voting day.

Proposed amendments to the constitution

• Residence requirements for presidential and vice-presidential candidates : Article 52 (c) of the constitution requires that candidates for presidential and vice-presidential terms can only be those who have been resident in Liberia for at least 10 years prior to the election. The proposed addition would have shortened this residence obligation to 5 years and specified that 5 continuous years are meant immediately before the election.

• Terms of Office of Chief Justice: The terms of office of Chief Justice are defined in Article 72 (b) of the Liberian Constitution. Thereafter, the Chief Justices and their affiliated judges of the Supreme Court and judges of lower courts must resign at the age of 72. The proposed addition would have increased this mandatory retirement age to 75 years.

• Date of elections: Election dates are currently regulated in Article 83 (a), which states that general elections for the office of President, Vice-President, Senate or House of Representatives should take place across Liberia on the 2nd Tuesday in October of the election year. However, this date falls at the end of the rainy season , which creates logistical problems. The proposed addition would have postponed the date for national elections to the second Tuesday in November. In addition, due to the return to the validity of the 2005 Constitution, elections for mayors, councilors and various levels of traditional leaders are still to be held. In 2008, the Liberian Supreme Court ruled that until the country was in a position to hold local elections, the President could appoint mayors in consultation with local leaders. The court also announced that the election commission should organize such elections as soon as the country is financially able to do so. Since the constitution does not prescribe a date for these local elections, the proposed amendment provided for these elections to be held three years after the presidential election.

• Electoral system : Article 83 (b) prescribes a two-round system for presidential and senate or parliamentary elections. These elections should be decided by absolute majorities. If no candidate achieves an absolute majority, a runoff election between the two best placed candidates should take place on the 2nd Tuesday after the election day. In order to save costs, this article was not used in the parliamentary elections , when a simple majority was enough for candidates. The proposed constitutional amendment would have stipulated this procedure for parliamentary and senate elections as well as local elections; the two-round system would only have remained for presidential elections.

Political positions

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf had announced her support for all four amendments to the constitution, but called the simple majority amendment the only decisive proposal due to its financial implications in general and Senate elections. The opposition Liberty Party also announced its support for the additions, but called for more far-reaching reforms. The head of the National Patriotic Party , Jewel Taylor , was against all four supplements because they think the living compulsory clause for candidates discriminates against newly returned Liberians and the extent of the possible tenure of judges prevents the setting quality training. Presidential candidate Winston Tubman of the Congress for Democratic Change called for a boycott of the referendum because he also doubted its constitutionality as the independence of the chairman of the electoral commission and the feasibility of the referendum so close to the date of the remaining elections 2011. Later Tubman withdrew its call for a boycott, turned but against all four proposed amendments to the constitution.

execution

President Sirleaf declared referendum day a national holiday. The referendum was overseen by registered domestic and international observers in 1949, including observers from the National Democratic Institute , the International Foundation for Electoral Systems , the African Union, and ECOWAS . There were 4,457 polling stations in the country. With one isolated exception in Barclayville , the referendum was peaceful. However, it was also characterized by low voter turnout and uncertainties about the reason for the referendum.

Quite a number of voters complained about incorrect printing on ballot papers in local radio broadcasts, which mentioned an increase in the maximum age of judges "from 75 to 75 years". The electoral commission apologized for these errors on the slips of paper printed in Denmark and pointed out that the incorrect imprints were explained in the relevant polling stations. According to the election commission, these errors had no impact on the outcome of the referendum.

Results

The electoral commission announced the results a week late on August 31, 2011. It stated that none of the four proposed amendments to the constitution had received the necessary majority.

additive	description	Yes		No		Invalid
		be right	%	be right	%	be right	%
Addition to Article 52 (c)	Reduction of the presidential candidate's residency requirement from 10 to 5 years	292,318	47.48	246.473	40.03	76,912	12.49
Addition to Article 72 (b)	Raising the maximum age for judges from 70 to 75 years	221.163	35.92	322.223	52.33	72,317	11.75
Addition to Article 83 (a)	Postponement of the regular election date to November	307,647	49.97	234,517	38.09	73,539	11.94
Addition to Article 83 (b)	Introduction of a simple majority in parliamentary, senate and local elections	364.901	59.27	174,469	28.34	76,333	12.40
Total votes cast		615.703
voter turnout		34.22%

Revision of the decision of the Electoral Commission by the Supreme Court

After the referendum directed Varney Sherman , chairman of the Unity Party , and Senator Fredrick Cherue from River Gee County a petition against the decision of the election commission regarding the fourth proposal (voting system) to the Supreme Court. They argued that the commission improperly counted invalid votes as no votes. Without this counting of the invalid votes, the 4th proposal would have achieved the necessary two-thirds majority with 67.65% of the valid votes. On September 20, the Supreme Court approved the lawsuit and declared the 4th proposal ratified.

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Liberia to Conduct National Referendum Ahead 2011 Elections . In: Shout-Africa , September 22, 2010. Retrieved December 16, 2011. 
2. ↑ ^{a b} page no longer available , search in web archives: NEC Somersaults, Now Says Referendum Suddenly 'Possible' Before 2011
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Liberia: National Referendum Imminent . In: allAfrica.com , July 14, 2010. Retrieved December 16, 2011. 
4. ↑ Alphonso Toweh: Liberia's Johnson-Sirleaf confident of winning new term . In: Reuters . July 26, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
5. ^ Liberia cannot afford local polls . In: BBC News , January 14, 2008. Retrieved December 16, 2011. 
6. ↑ National Referendum Campaign Declared Open . In: allAfrica.com , May 2, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2011. 
7. ↑ 12 May President's Press Conference . In: The Executive Mansion . May 12, 2011. Archived from the original on October 4, 2011. Retrieved on December 16, 2011.
8. ↑ David B. Kolleh: Brumskine, LP Say Yes to Referendum . In: FrontPageAfrica , May 4, 2011. Archived from the original on March 17, 2012. Retrieved on December 16, 2011. 
9. ↑ James Butty: Liberian Lawmaker to Vote 'No' in Constitutional Referendum . In: Voice of America . August 17, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
10. ^ Scott Stearns: Liberian Opposition Party Challenges Electoral Commission's Neutrality . In: Voice of America . August 2, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
11. ↑ David Kolleh: Referendum Boycott - CDC Wants Partisans to Stay Away, term it Unconstitutional . In: FrontPageAfrica , July 31, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2011. 
12. ^ EJ Nathaniel Daygbor: Tubman Somersaults On Referendum . In: The New Dawn , August 22, 2011. 
13. ↑ August 23, 2011 is "Referendum Day"; to be observed as National Holiday . In: Ministry of Foreign Affairs . August 22, 2011. Archived from the original on October 1, 2011. Retrieved on August 25, 2011.
14. ↑ ^{a b} Provisional Results . In: National Elections Commission . August 25, 2011. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved on August 25, 2011.
15. ↑ Paige McClanahan: Liberia's referendum goes off peacefully, despite opposition boycott . In: The Christian Science Monitor , August 24, 2011. Retrieved August 25, 2011. 
16. ↑ Jonathan Paye-Layleh: Liberian referendum marred by ballot error . In: Associated Press . Google News. August 23, 2011. Retrieved August 23, 2011.
17. ↑ James Butty: Ballot Error no Impact on Referendum Results, Says Elections Chief . In: Voice of America , August 24, 2011. 
18. ^ Final Results of the National Referendum . In: National Elections Commission . August 31, 2011. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved on August 31, 2011.
19. ^ Liberia voters reject all 4 items on referendum . In: Associated Press . Google News. August 31, 2011. Accessed August 31, 2011.
20. ^ Final Results of the National Referendum ( Memento of September 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ); Retrieved December 12, 2011
21. ↑ Stephen Binda, Supreme Court Ratifies Simple Majority Votes . In: Daily Observer , September 21, 2011.