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 Liberiaportal |
A constitutional referendum was held in Liberia on 8 December 2020 alongside Senate elections and two by-elections to the House of Representatives. It had been planned for 13 October, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [1] Voters were asked whether they approved of eight amendments to the constitution, voting separately on each one. Although a majority of valid votes were in favour of each proposal, the two-thirds quorum was not met for any proposal.
The government had planned to bundle the eight amendments into three questions, with one question on amending article 28 (citizenship), one on amending articles 45, 47, 48, 49 and 50 on the terms of office of the President, Senate and House of Representatives, and one on amending article 83 to change the date of general elections and decrease the time the Elections Commission has to investigate complaints. [2] However, this was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, as article 92 requires amendments to be voted on separately. [2] This was taken by many to mean the referendum was cancelled. [3] However, Solicitor-General Syrenius Cephus claimed the ruling meant that if the questions were unbundled, the referendum could go ahead. The National Elections Commission subsequently began printing new ballot papers with the amendments separated out. [4]
The opposition Collaborating Political Parties attempted to appeal to the Supreme Court, but were unsuccessful. [5] Despite reports that the changes would lead to George Weah's third presidential term like in other Western African neighbors, Weah denied the move. [6]
Partial results from a third of country's regions showed that the amendments on reducing the term of presidency and allowing dual citizenship won a majority of votes. According to the National Election Commission, voters said yes to all eight questions asked on the referendum in five of fifteen counties in the country. [8] Final results were released on 1 April 2021, with a narrow majority in favour of all eight proposals, but none meeting the two-thirds quorum required, resulting in all proposals being rejected. [9]
| Question | For | Against | Invalid/ blank | Total votes | Registered voters | Turnout | Result | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | ||||||||||
| Citizenship | 202,017 | 51.43 | 190,814 | 48.57 | 437,170 | 830,001 | 2,476,536 | 33.51 | Rejected (two-thirds in favour not met) | ||||
| Reducing Senators' terms | 227,884 | 54.99 | 186,557 | 45.01 | 415,694 | 830,135 | 33.51 | Rejected (two-thirds in favour not met) | |||||
| Reducing the term of the President of the Senate | 221,236 | 54.80 | 182,515 | 45.20 | 426,399 | 830,150 | 33.52 | Rejected (two-thirds in favour not met) | |||||
| Reducing the term of the House of Representatives | 220,143 | 55.03 | 179,903 | 44.97 | 430,188 | 830,234 | 33.52 | Rejected (two-thirds in favour not met) | |||||
| Reducing the term of the Speaker of the House of Representatives | 217,325 | 54.39 | 182,245 | 45.61 | 430,683 | 830,253 | 33.52 | Rejected (two-thirds in favour not met) | |||||
| Reducing the term of the President | 237,501 | 54.24 | 200,359 | 45.76 | 391,951 | 829,811 | 33.51 | Rejected (two-thirds in favour not met) | |||||
| Changing the date of general elections | 212,016 | 56.75 | 161,590 | 43.25 | 456,785 | 830,391 | 33.53 | Rejected (two-thirds in favour not met) | |||||
| Decreasing the time the Elections Commission has to investigate complaints | 176,789 | 50.20 | 175,347 | 49.80 | 478,265 | 830,401 | 33.53 | Rejected (two-thirds in favour not met) | |||||
| Source: NEC | |||||||||||||
A constitutional amendment is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly altering the text. Conversely, they can be appended to the constitution as supplemental additions, thus changing the frame of government without altering the existing text of the document.
Amendments to the Constitution of Ireland are only possible by way of referendum. A proposal to amend the Constitution of Ireland must be initiated as a bill in Dáil Éireann, be passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas (parliament), then submitted to a referendum, and finally signed into law by the president of Ireland. Since the constitution entered into force on 29 December 1937, there have been 32 amendments to the constitution.
A double majority is a voting system which requires a majority of votes according to two separate criteria. The mechanism is usually used to require strong support for any measure considered to be of great importance. Typically in legislative bodies, a double majority requirement exists in the form of a quorum being necessary for legislation to be passed.
In the politics of the United States, the process of initiatives and referendums allow citizens of many U.S. states to place legislation on the ballot for a referendum or popular vote, either enacting new legislation, or voting down existing legislation. Citizens, or an organization, might start an initiative to gather a predetermined number of signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot. The measure is placed on the ballot for the referendum, or actual vote.
The Italian Parliament is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1848–1861), the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1943), the transitional National Council (1945–1946) and the Constituent Assembly (1946–1948). It is a bicameral legislature with 600 elected members and a small number of unelected members. The Italian Parliament is composed of the Chamber of Deputies, as well as the Senate of the Republic.
State ratifying conventions are one of the two methods established by Article V of the United States Constitution for ratifying proposed constitutional amendments. The only amendment that has been ratified through this method thus far is the 21st Amendment in 1933.
The Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria is the supreme and basic law of the Republic of Bulgaria. The current constitution was adopted on 12 July 1991 by the 7th Grand National Assembly of Bulgaria, and defines the country as a unitary parliamentary republic. It has been amended six times.
A constitutional referendum on electoral reform was held in Turkey on 21 October 2007. After the aborted attempt to elect the next president in May 2007, the government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan introduced substantial electoral reforms in parliament which were then passed with the votes of Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party and the opposition Motherland Party.
The Constitution of Liberia is the supreme law of the Republic of Liberia. The current constitution, which came into force on 6 January 1986, replaced the Liberian Constitution of 1847, which had been in force since the independence of Liberia. Much like the 1847 Constitution, the Constitution creates a system of government heavily modeled on the Federal Government of the United States.
The Constitution of Kenya is the supreme law of the Republic of Kenya. There have been three significant versions of the constitution, with the most recent redraft being enabled in 2010. The constitution was presented to the Attorney General of Kenya on 7 April 2010, officially published on 6 May 2010, and was subjected to a referendum on 4 August 2010. The new Constitution was approved by 67% of Kenyan voters. The constitution was promulgated on 27 August 2010.
A referendum to amend the Constitution of Liberia was held on 23 August 2011. Voters chose whether to ratify four amendments regarding judge tenure, elections scheduling, presidential candidate requirements and the electoral system. The National Elections Commission of Liberia (NEC) oversaw the referendum.
Parliamentary elections were held in the Federated States of Micronesia on 8 March 2011, alongside a three-part referendum. As there were no political parties, all 34 candidates ran as independents. For the first time in the country's history, two women ran for election, both in Chuuk State. However, neither was elected.
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A twenty-three-part referendum was held in Palau on 4 November 2008 alongside the country's general elections. Voters were asked questions on requirements of citizenship to hold office, government provision of primary school and health care, the definition of marriage and term limits for Parliament. Only the proposal permitting naturalization for certain adoptees failed to obtain the requisite majority of the vote and majority in 3/4th of the states.
A fifteen-part constitutional referendum was held in Colombia on 25 October 2003. Whilst all fifteen proposals were approved by voters, only one question had a sufficient numbers of votes to pass the 25% quorum requirement.
The 19th Amendment (19A) to the Constitution of Sri Lanka was passed by the 225-member Sri Lankan Parliament with 215 voting in favor, one against, one abstained and seven were absent, on 28 April 2015. The amendment envisages the dilution of many powers of Executive Presidency, which had been in force since 1978. It is the most revolutionary reform ever applied to the Constitution of Sri Lanka since JR Jayawardhane became the first Executive President of Sri Lanka in 1978.
A constitutional referendum was held in Lithuania on 12 May 2019, alongside the first round of the presidential elections. Two proposals were put to voters – one to reduce the number of MPs in the Seimas from 141 to 121 and one to allow Lithuanians to hold dual citizenship with a list of countries meeting "European or transatlantic integration criteria," which would be determined by law. In order for the first constitutional amendment to be passed, voter turnout was required to be above 50%, and at least 33.3% of registered voters would have to vote in favour of the proposal. For the second amendment, at least 50% of registered voters would have to vote in favour of the proposal.
Events in the year 2020 in Liberia.
A referendum on nine proposed amendments to the constitution was held in Micronesia on 4 July 2023. Eight of the amendments were proposed by the Constitutional Convention elected in 2019, and one amendment was proposed by Congress. All nine amendments passed, and were officially ratified by President Simina on 4 October 2023.
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