Montserrado County Senator Abraham Darius Dillon has questioned the House of Representatives’ approval of a proposal on the allocation of additional legislative seats, arguing that the move exceeds the powers granted to the Legislature under the Liberian Constitution.
Dillon said the 1986 Constitution clearly separates the responsibilities of the Legislature and the National Elections Commission (NEC) regarding the creation and distribution of legislative seats.
He explained that under Article 80(d), the Legislature’s role is limited to setting the population threshold for representation after the completion of a national population census. It does not have the authority to determine or assign legislative seats to counties.
“The Legislature has no authority to allocate legislative seats by county,” Dillon said. “Its constitutional responsibility is to establish the population threshold based on the results of a duly conducted national census.”
The senator noted that Article 80(e) gives the NEC the exclusive responsibility to apportion legislative constituencies and allocate seats once the population threshold has been established by the Legislature.
According to Dillon, this division of responsibilities is designed to protect the independence and credibility of Liberia’s electoral process by keeping constituency demarcation and seat allocation free from political influence.
He urged lawmakers to ensure that any proposal affecting legislative representation complies with the Constitution before it is enacted into law.
“If this matter reaches the Senate, we will ensure that it is addressed in line with the Constitution,” Dillon said.
Dillon also called on all branches of government to respect the constitutional mandate of the NEC and uphold the rule of law in matters involving electoral boundaries and legislative seat apportionment.
