-Gongloe wants NEC chair removed
Presidential hopeful Cllr. Taiwan Saye Gongloe has called for the removal of National Elections Commission (NEC) chairperson Madam Davidetta Brown-Lansanah, saying he senses a looming constitutional crisis comes 2023.
Addressing a press conference Wednesday, 21 December 2022 in Monrovia, the renowned Liberian lawyer and head of the Liberian People's Party (LPP) called for the institution of appropriate countervailing measures.
Cllr. Gongloe argued that the National Housing and Population Census and the National Referendum can be postponed without disruption to the electoral process.
But he warned that the date set for the conduct of the presidential election can not be postponed without a constitutional crisis.
He reminded the government that the president's term of office will officially end on 15 January 2024.
Therefore, Gongloe said, if elections are not held on the second Tuesday in October as provided by the Constitution, it will constitute a wanton violation of the Constitution which could impede a successful transition.
Based on these concerns, the Liberian lawyer said he foresees a looming constitutional crisis if nothing concrete is done to arrest the "cascading degeneration in the electoral process."
He, therefore, urged the government to revamp and overhaul the NEC, beginning with the appointment of a new chairperson because Madam Brown-Lansanah has allegedly failed to meet the timeline concerning the election process.
He argued that the voter registration process, which was earlier postponed and rescheduled to commence on 15 December 2022 has yet again been postponed by NEC to yet an undeclared date.
Gongloe proposed that the Government of Liberia requests the international community to provide technical experts to assist the NEC on its central data center during voter registration, and the vote tabulation processes.
He suggested that the Government of Liberia needs to implement the recommendation from the NEC/United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Workshop.
According to him, the recommendation from the workshop called for the setting up of an ad-hoc panel of judges drawn from the current crop of judges to handle all disputes arising from the conduct of the election.
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He said the recommendation was made in other to reduce delays due to a heavy caseload of election disputes reaching the Supreme Court.
Cllr. Gongloe also wants the Legislature to direct the NEC to state a definite date no later than 15 January 2023 for the commencement of the voter registration exercise.
He believes this will give ample time to potential voters, especially first-time voters.
The LPP presidential hopeful further suggested that the optical mark recognition process used in the previous election should be retained as opposed to the biometric registration process.
Cllr. Gongloe said he wants the use of National Identification cards in the 2023 elections to be barred.
He called on the Legislature, in exercising its oversight responsibility, to give special preference to budgetary appropriation for the 2023 elections.
At the same time, Cllr. Gongloe urged the Legislature to exert extraordinary pressure on the Executive branch for all disbursements required by the NEC to be made timely.
He also called on all political parties, civil society organizations, and the citizenry to consider the matter as a patriotic obligation to continually monitor the unfolding process leading to the 2023 presidential and legislative elections.
