Fromoyan Sees Threshold Passage A Prerequisite to Elections
The Chairman of the National Elections Commission (NEC), Cllr. James Fromayan says the prerequisite to the conduct of the 2011 elections is the passage of the Threshold Bill which is still languishing at the National Legislature; reports Bill K. Jarkloh.
The NEC boss indicated that his commission is mindful of the challenges facing the commission. “Some of these challenges include constituency delimitation; a comprehensive voter registration and the conduct of the 2011 presidential and Legislative Elections,” he told the audience that has gathered at the turning over ceremony of a new headquarters of the NEC in Sinkor, Monrovia.
“It is a pity that close to two years now we are still at square one with respect to the Threshold bill, I honestly do not see how the NEC can be expected to conduct a national referendum to address key constitutional issues under severe time constraint.” Mr. Fromayan, indicated further.
He said election requires massive planning and time is an essential factor noting that the commission cannot perform miracle. The construction of the NEC headquarters is a result of a US$2 million grant provided to the commission by United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The modern building will provide offices for NEC staff, foreign observers and the media. It is the first time since 1847 that the NEC has its own headquarters in which to operate. USAID-IFES Announce New Support to NEC
In essence, Mr. Fromoyan has been contending on a referendum before 2011 polling possibility. At the end of last year, the NEC Chairman released a statement in said earlier plans by the National Elections Commission (NEC) to conduct a national referendum, before running into the 2011 general and presidential elections, has been thwarted.
NEC had intended to hold the referendum to make some "important changes" in the Liberian Constitution, indented to make the electioneering process less burdensome, which would eventually cut down an astronomical overhanging cost.
The National Political officer of NEC, Joseph A. Yarsiah at the time told the Truth FM, a popular radio station in Monrovia, Tuesday morning that the Commission can no longer hold the planned referendum due to the "unwarranted delay" in the passage of the threshold bill by the National Legislature.
The threshold and other electoral bills have been before the National Legislature for nearly two years, but they have failed to pass it, despite incessant local and diplomatic calls. NEC has repeatedly warned that failure of the Legislature to pass the threshold bill on time will seriously hamper the conduct of pending elections-considered all-Liberian-affair elections.
Article 80 (d) of the Liberian Constitution mandates the National Legislature to set a new threshold (number of persons that constitutes an electoral constituency) immediately after the conduct of a national census provided that the total number of constituencies in the republic does not exceed 100.
"We thought by now constituencies would have been set in place, voter's registration on course, and probably a national referendum..., but all of these are held by the unwarranted delay of the thresholds bill by the National Legislature," Mr. Yarsiah sounded frustrated yesterday.
He said a study by NEC found out that the 2005 voter's registration was to some extent non-inclusive, and NEC had designed programs to address this problem and many others before the 2011 polls, but these efforts are being frustrated.
The referendum, Yarsiah added, it requires at least one year (about 18 months) conducting a referendum, and with a year left to go, it has become impossible to hold a referendum even if the bill was passed now. This is indicative that elections could be delayed beyond 2011 if corrective measures are not taken in the direction of the Threshold legislation.
The bill was passed on two occasions but was vetoed by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The referendum is intended to change the constitutional provision of "absolute majority" to win an elective post.
Absolute majority means that a candidate must attain 50% +1 vote in any election to be declared winner, otherwise a runoff-as witnessed in the recent Montserrado County Senatorial by-election-is scheduled in two weeks.
Senate Pro Tempore Cletus S. Wotorson recently lashed at NEC and others who say the 2011 elections are tied to the threshold bill, describing the claim as "untrue". He said 'no one will pull the Legislature by its nose or force the august body to act or not to act on the controversial bill'.
Electoral officials and experts have opined that credible elections can not be held without a defined threshold, for doing so would render electoral result unconstitutional. At Present, Liberia’s current population of the country at 3.4 million, the threshold of stands 20,000 in spite of the population growth from 2.5 million to 3.4 million.
On the other hand, there is no provision and reason for special elections as was done in the past as was occasioned by the transition from war to peace, especially when the full force of the Constitution is being employed as of January 16, 2006 when President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf took office.
The National Legislature few months ago passed threshold bill, setting the threshold at 40,000, but with a condition that no county gets less that two seats. President Sirleaf vetoed the bill on grounds that it had "condition" attached, and recommended the Legislature to increase the threshold to at least 45,000. The House has since acted on the vetoed bill, removing the "condition", but keeping it at 40,000 with two representatives each county across the board, which was again vetoed by the Present.
The Threshold Bill is presently stranded before the National Legislature after the second veto, a situation which has influence the statement of the NEC chairman during the turning over of the new NEC Headquarters.
Prior to the turning over of the, Frank Vassallo, Director of the Liberian office of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), said there although there are steps to be taken regarding voters' registration, the transportation and delivery of ballot boxes, training, office space, equipment and other logistics amongst others but noted that the delay has not stopped the National Elections Commission from doing its planning; it has been plodding on and has done some excellent work.
Mr. Vassallo told a local outlet that already, there is a voter's registration expert in the country who has begun the groundwork for that part of the process. Liberians cannot ask anything more of this Commission.”
The head of IFES was addressing himself to questions raised about the smallness of offices built by his organization in southeastern Liberia, especially, those in Grand Kru, Zwedru, and River Gee, as compared to those they built in Lofa and Bopolo.
Most lacked a conference room, training space, storage (for ballot boxes, etc.) and bathroom facilities, among other things. Just back from a tour of the southeast, NEC Chairman James Fromoyan agreed that an earlier group of IFES operators might not have used the funds (provided by USAID) wisely in their bid to get that set of offices in place for an earlier election.
He hoped that something else could be done to correct the situation concerning the offices mentioned above as well as a few others with some special needs.
IFES, through Country Director Vassallo and his deputy Jared Hayes, pointed out that their mandate involves mainly logistics and technical support and are prevented from engaging in rebuilding or expanding structures. However, they promised to do all they could in mobilizing some extra funds from either UNDP or USAID to help expand or rebuild the offices mention, in time for the upcoming 2011 elections.
Recently, United States Aid for International Development (USAID and the International Foundation for Electoral System (IFES) have announced new support for Liberia's National Elections Commission.
USAID-Liberia has awarded a five-year US$17.5 million grant to the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) for the conduct of the 2011 Liberian residential and general elections and beyond to 2014. The grant will support programs whose overall goal will be to build sustained election management capacity and operations in Liberia.
The programs will consist of multiple types of support to Liberia’s National Elections Commission (NEC) to conduct complex election-related exercises such as setting constituency boundaries according to the 2008 population census, conducting referenda on constitutional and electoral laws, voter registration, and civic education over the next couple years leading up to 2011.
The new programs also include comprehensive capacity-building for all NEC officials in every department, including the 19 electoral magistrate offices throughout Liberia. This award affirms US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's announcement of support for the NEC during her recent visit to Liberia.
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