2020 Liberian constitutional referendum

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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.

Contents

Background

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]

Proposed amendments

Results

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]

QuestionForAgainstInvalid/
blank
Total
votes
Registered
voters
TurnoutResult
Votes%Votes%
Citizenship202,01751.43190,81448.57437,170830,0012,476,53633.51Rejected (two-thirds in favour not met)
Reducing Senators' terms227,88454.99186,55745.01415,694830,13533.51Rejected (two-thirds in favour not met)
Reducing the term of the President of the Senate221,23654.80182,51545.20426,399830,15033.52Rejected (two-thirds in favour not met)
Reducing the term of the House of Representatives220,14355.03179,90344.97430,188830,23433.52Rejected (two-thirds in favour not met)
Reducing the term of the Speaker of the House of Representatives217,32554.39182,24545.61430,683830,25333.52Rejected (two-thirds in favour not met)
Reducing the term of the President237,50154.24200,35945.76391,951829,81133.51Rejected (two-thirds in favour not met)
Changing the date of general elections212,01656.75161,59043.25456,785830,39133.53Rejected (two-thirds in favour not met)
Decreasing the time the Elections Commission has to investigate complaints176,78950.20175,34749.80478,265830,40133.53Rejected (two-thirds in favour not met)
Source: NEC

References

  1. PPCC to single source election materials The New Dawn, 7 June 2020
  2. 1 2 Supreme Court Dumps Referendum Archived 2020-12-05 at the Wayback Machine Daily Observer, 19 November 2020
  3. Beware The Ides of December, President Weah! Archived 2020-12-07 at the Wayback Machine Daily Observer, 23 November 2020
  4. Cllr. Cephus: ‘Referendum to Go-Ahead’ Archived 2020-12-09 at the Wayback Machine Daily Observer, 24 November 2020
  5. CPP disappointed in Supreme Court The New Dawn, 3 December 2020
  6. "Liberia referendum could pave way for contentious third term for President Weah". France 24. 2020-12-06. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
  7. Liberia Official Gazette on the National Referendum - 2020 volume XIX, number 52, 8 October 2019
  8. Liberians approve constitutional referendum pushed by President Weah Africa News, 17 December 2020
  9. "Liberians reject Weah plan for shorter terms, dual citizenship". Yahoo! News. AFP. 1 April 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2021.