NEC Takes 20 Parties To Court MONROVIA, Feb 10 (LINA) The National Elections Commission (NEC) has filed a petition before the Civil Law Court for the Revocation of the Registration and Accreditation of 20 registered political parties in Liberia. The political parties include the National Vision Party of Liberia, National Democratic Coalition, the National Union for Democratic Progress, Citizens Unification Party, Freedom Alliance party, Original Congress Party, Liberia Empowerment Party, Progressive Democratic Party, Liberia Destiny Party and the Liberia National Union. Others are Liberia Transformation Party, National Reformation Party, National Democratic Party of Liberia, Liberia Reconstruction Party, National Social Democratic Party of Liberia, Republican Party, Liberia Equal Rights Party, Majority Party of Liberia, Progressive People’s Party and Alliance for Peace and Democracy. According to the Petition, the political parties violated Articles 83(d) and 79 (c)(i) of the 1986 Constitution of Liberia as well as Part II Chapter IV of the Guidelines Relating to the Registration of Political Parties and Independent Candidates. Article 83(d) of the Constitution of Liberia makes it mandatory that every political party in Liberia shall on September 1, of each year, publish and submit to the NEC detailed statements of assets and liabilities. These shall include the enumeration of sources of funds and other assets, plus list of expenditure while Article 79(c)(i) in relevant part, mandates that no association shall function as a political party, unless the headquarters of the association is located in the Republic’s Capital. Part II, Chapter IV of the Guidelines Relating to the Registration o0f Political Parties and Independent Candidates mandates that “each political party shall maintain an updated bank account with a balance not less than 10,000 United States Dollars or its equivalence in Liberian Dollars. The Liberia Reconstruction Party, National Social Democratic Party of Liberia, Republican Party, Liberia Equal Rights Party, Majority Party of Liberia and the Progressive People’s Party absolutely failed to comply with the Constitutional Requirement of Article 83(d) as well as the regulatory requirement of Part II Chapter IV of the Guidelines Relating to the Registration of Political parties and Independent Candidates, by the failure to publish and submit detailed statements of their assets and liabilities and maintaining a bank balance of not less than US$10,000 or its Liberian dollar equivalent. The National Democratic Coalition, National Democratic Party of Liberia, and Alliance for Peace and Democracy did not only neglect the above mentioned constitutional and regulatory requirement to publish and submit detailed statement of their assets and liabilities on September 1, they also failed to make such submission during a grace period provided to them by the Commission. The National Vision Party of Liberia, National Union for Democratic Progress, Citizens Unification Party, Freedom Alliance Party, Original Congress Party, Liberia Empowerment Party, Progressive Democratic Party, Liberia Destiny Party, Liberia National Union, Liberia Transformation Party and the National Reformation Party in addition to failing to meet the above mentioned mandatory constitutional and regulatory requirement, knowingly submitted misleading and false assets and liability statements to the NEC, knowing fully well that the declared amount and or accounts were false or did not exist. In the petition filed before assigned Circuit Judge, Peter Gbeneweleh, Monday in Monrovia, the Commission asked the Civil Law Court to revoke, nullify and set aside the respective registrations and accreditation of the 20 political parties and declaring them no longer in existence. LINA PTK
Posted on: Tue, 11 Feb 2014 05:00:51 +0000
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