-as govt., oppositionhaul and pull
Barely three days to the national referendum and legislative by-elections next Tuesday, December 8th, the ruling Coalition government and the opposition here are still divided on whether the referendum should be conducted as planned, leaving voters as confused as never before.
The opposition bloc, led by the Collaborating Political Parties or CPP has threatened to tell its supporters to abstain from decisions aimed at amending key provisions in the Constitution amid lack of adequate public education, but ruling establishment is more than resolved to conduct the process Tuesday, along with senatorial election and two by-elections in the House.
Most Liberians at home are nervous due to little awareness to cast ballots for the referendum that seeks, among others, to change tenures for the Presidency, Senate, House, Speaker, Senate President Pro-Tempore, and legislate Dual Citizenship. But their compatriots in the Diasporas, like the government want all eight propositions in the referendum voted “Yes.”
Key institutions such as the Liberia Council of Churches and the Liberia National Bar Association have called for a suspension of Tuesday’s referendum to allow ample time for public education, but the government won’t listen.
“Should the government insist on proceeding with the referendum, we urge all of our supporters and well-meaning Liberians to boycott the referendum on December 8, 2020 and only go to the polls to vote Senatorial Candidates and Representative Candidates for the by-elections. We do not rule out possible legal actions if NEC insists on holding the planned illegal referendum.
We cannot and will not participate in an unconstitutional process. We reserve the right to peacefully assemble and will be doing so over the coming days to call attention to our legitimate demands”, CPP leader, Mr. Alexander B. Cummings said in a news conference in Monrovia on Wednesday, 2 December.
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