The House of Representatives has unanimously approved a resolution establishing a new electoral population threshold and forwarded it to the Liberian Senate for concurrence.
The decision followed the adoption of a report by the House Committee on Elections and Inauguration, presented by its chairman, Representative Thomas Romeo Quioh.
The committee said the resolution is intended to bring Liberia’s electoral constituencies in line with the country’s latest population figures.
According to the report, the resolution is based on Articles 39, 80(d), and 80(e) of the 1986 Constitution. These provisions require a national census every 10 years, authorize the Legislature to prescribe the population threshold for legislative representation, and mandate the National Elections Commission (NEC) to reapportion constituencies using census data before the next general elections.
The committee said Liberia’s population grew from 3,476,608 in the 2008 census to 5,250,187 in the 2022 National Population and Housing Census, making a review of the current constituency framework constitutionally necessary.
Lawmakers noted that the constituency boundaries established after the 2008 census have remained unchanged through the 2011, 2017, and 2023 elections despite population growth and migration across the country. They described the current exercise as the fulfillment of a constitutional requirement that had been delayed.
Under the proposed resolution, the Legislature sets a population threshold that the NEC will use to reapportion constituencies based on the certified 2022 census results. If implemented, the number of electoral constituencies would increase from 73 to 89, remaining within the constitutional limit of 100.
The committee also reaffirmed that every constituency must remain entirely within a single county, as required under Article 80(e) of the Constitution, and called for any constituency boundaries that do not meet that requirement to be corrected.
Following debate, members of the House unanimously adopted the committee’s report and passed the resolution, which has now been transmitted to the Senate for consideration.
The House said the measure is aimed at ensuring fair representation, complying with constitutional requirements, and updating Liberia’s electoral map to reflect the country’s current population distribution ahead of future elections.
