The National Patriotic Party (NPP), says it objects to suggestions by the Board of Commissioners of the National Elections Commission to appoint a neutral person or body to take the party to convention.
The NPP in a press statement issued Sunday, 08 May 8, 2022, describes the NEC’s decision to have outgoing Chairman James Biney appoint three names and the aggrieved party to submit three names among which to pick an individual to take the party to convention, as unconstitutional and a smart attempt by the Board of Commissioners to suspend the Party’s constitution in order to satisfy a certain individual, who desire is to control the party as a private entity.
In a release, the NPP discloses that lawyers representing the Party have announced an exception to the Board’s ruling and are appealing to the Supreme Court of Liberia.
In a press release, secretary general Andrews Peters calls on all NPP partisans to remain calm as everything legally possible is being done to protect the constitution and bye-laws of the National Patriotic Party, which is a member of the three-party ruling Coalition for Democratic Change.
The Board of Commissioners of the National Elections Commission upholds its Hearing Officer’s ruling, affirming that the tenures of Chairman James Biney and other elected officers of the National Patriotic Party (NPP) have expired.
On November 30, 2020, several aggrieved partisans of the NPP filed a complaint with the National Elections Commission that the tenures of Chairman James P. Biney and all of those elected at the NPP’s February 2016 convention had expired and, as such, were without authority to steer the affairs of the party.
The NEC Hearing Office conducted an investigation and rendered a ruling in favor of the complainants, to which embattled Chairman Biney and others excepted and took appeal before the Board of Commissioners.
Following a review of the matter by the Board of Commissioners, the NEC, on Friday, May 6, 2022, announced the following as its final determination of the case:
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]
That with the tenures of Chairman James P. Biney and other partisans elected at the NPP’s February 16 convention either to serve for four or six years has expired, the said partisans (Biney and others) are without authority to steer the affairs of the NPP, and that an interim Convention Coordinating Committee, comprising seven persons, be set up to take the party to its 7th Biennial Convention where the outgoing Biney leadership shall make a report of its stewardship.
The NEC Board’s ruling also states that within five days of the date of this ruling, the two sides (complainants and the Biney leadership) shall each designate and submit to the Political Affairs Section of the NEC, names of three persons to serve on the said interim Convention Coordinating Committee and that the chairperson of the interim Convention Coordinating Committee to be agreed upon by the two sides shall not be any of the named individuals in the case.
The Board further maintains that in the event that the complainants and the outgoing Biney leadership cannot agree on a person to serve as chairperson of the interim Convention Coordinating Committee, the Political Affairs Section of the NEC will submit a list of three eminent Liberians from which both sides will agree on one person to serve as chairperson and that after the said submission of the list by NEC, and the two parties cannot still agree on a chairperson, the Commission will designate a neutral person, association, or group to take the NPP to its 7th Biennial Convention. Editing by Jonathan Browne
