Senate Finally Passes Threshold Bill

At long last, the Liberian Senate has finally concurred with the House of Representatives on the much-anticipated Threshold Bill with a condition.Following several hours of closed door session yesterday in the Chamber of the Senate, members of that august body voted to pass the bill which has been before the Senate for an unprecedented time.

Members of the Liberian Senate have been under persistent pressure from the public as well as the international community for the passage of the Threshold Bill with the US Embassy near Monrovia threatening that theinternational community would act negatively toward the 2011 General and Presidential Elections if the National Legislature delays the passage of the bill. Article 80(d) of the Liberian Constitution provides that “each constituency shall have an approximately equal population of 20,000, or such number of citizens as the Legislature shallprescribe in keeping with population growth and movements as revealed by the national census, provided that the total number of electoral constituencies in the Republic shall not exceed one hundred.”

Article 80)e) also states that “immediately following a national census and before the next elections, the Elections Commission shall reapportion the constituencies in accordance with the new population figures so that every constituency shall have as close to the same population as possible; provided, however, that a constituency must be solely within a county.” Legislative observers say the hasty passage of the Threshold Bill which was rejected on Wednesday is predicated upon pressure from a group of protesters who stormed the Capitol Building yesterday demanding the speedy passage of the bill to enable the national Elections Commissions (NEC) prepare for the holding of the 2011 elections. A group of protesters led by Dan Sayeh, Executive Director of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) stormed the seat of the National Legislature on Thursday, July 2, 2009 with placards demanding that the lawmakers pass the long-awaited bill to pave the way for elections in the country. Some of the placards carried inscriptions such as, “The future of Liberia depends on the decision of today; please pass the Threshold bill; Liberia comes first above personal interest; pass the bill; delay of threshold bill is a disservice to Liberians.”

Cogent report also revealed that thousands of Liberians had planned to move on the Capitol Building to demand the passage of the Bill if nothing was done to pass it yesterday. However, following nearly eight hours of closed door session yesterday, a compromised motion made by Bong County Senator Franklin Siakor stated that “The Senate concurred with the lower House to set the new Threshold at 40,000 with a condition that no county having single seat in the House. 16 Senators voted in favor of the motion while nine voted against. The passage of the Threshold Bill again suffered another setback as a motion to set the Threshold at 40,000 was defeated by some Senators on Wednesday. The Threshold Bill is a key factor that will enable the National Elections Commission (NEC) to begin preparations for the holding of elections within the next two years.   Political pundits have criticized the Senators saying that the delay by them to pass the Threshold Bill is dangerous and a major threat to the holding of the 2011 General and Presidential Elections in the country as the mandate of the Unity Party government will expire in 2011 and another election be held.

With the passage of the new electoral Threshold Bill by the National Legislature, the number of representation in the House of Representatives will now increase from 64 to 88 with an additional increment of 24 seats. Montserrado will now dominate the House with 28 Representatives followed by Nimba County

culled from: Inquirer