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4  Aspirant did not submit all required documents and forms  All documents were not received before the close of the nomination period  Candidate is not a registered vote  Aspirant's guidelines/objectives is not in conformity with the Liberian Law  Candidate does not meet the constitutional age requirement Evidence of Payment of tax is no sufficient  No evidence of office establishment by the candidate or his/her political party/alliance/coalition in the area contesting  Evidence of ownership of unencumbered real property valued at not less than US$25,000 or its equivalence in Liberian Dollars is not sufficient Candidate is barred from contesting by the Code of Conduct for Public Officials  No proof of aspirant's residency requirement  No proof of aspirant's citizenship requirement  Evidence of payment of registration fee is not valid  Petition List is not valid  Aspirant has not met the Domicile Requirement Comments Candidate is barred by the Code of conduct for public officials. He served as head of a Public Corporation and did not resign in line with the Code. (Attach additional information if necessary) Applicant is hereby notified of the rejection of his/her Application for Nomination as a Candidate in the October, 2017 Elections. _____________________________________ Hon. ' Jerome G. Korkoya, Chairman NEC 07-07-17______________ Date It is important that at this point that the Court highlights a few points, as regards the Notice of Rejection and other attending instruments that culminated in the said Notice of Rejection. This is important so that the premise is set for the other factual occurrences that unfolded following the rejection or disqualification of co-appellant Harrison S. Karnwea. Firstly, the records reflect that on July 6, 2017, the Chairman and Secretary General of the Liberty Party filled out and executed on the National Elections Commission Candidate Endorsement Form, wherein the Party submitted the name of Harrison S. Karnwea as its vice-presidential nominee for the October 2017 Presidential and General Elections; that on the same date, July 6, 2017, a Letter of Intent, constituting the Application of Co-appellant Harrison S. Karnwea, Sr., and accompanying documents, were also filed with the National Elections Commission, duly receipted for by a personnel of the Commission; that also on the same date, July 6, 2017, a Report was prepared by a panel or personnel of the Nomination Scrutiny Review body on the letterhead of the National Elections Commission stating that the Nomination Scrutiny Review Body had received from the Document Control for review

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Karnwea v. National Elections Commission

Judgment

Question Presented: Whether an investigation is necessary to prohibit a candidate from running when they allegedly do not meet the qualifications? Whether the Election Commission may go beyond the statutorily prescribed penalties for not meeting a qualification?

Alleged Acts: Co-appellant, Karnwea, was seeking the Vice Presidency under the Liberty Party and was barred from participating in the October 2017 elections on the bases that he did not meet the two year requirement for resigning from a public corporation in the Code of Conduct. The co-appellant resigned several months prior to filing his application for certification to contest the particular elective office.

Procedural history: The court found that the Election Commission’s notice of rejection only had evidence that the Chairman signed and decided the opinion, not the inclusion of any other members of the Election Commission. The co-appellant appealed directly to the Supreme Court rather than Election Commission’s remedial process.

Summary: The court determined that the record was devoid of investigation or hearing conducted in accordance with the bar from participating in elections and the appellants had not been heard regarding the matter. Further, there was no evidence that the Board of Commissioners outside of the Chairman were aware of the ruling. On the merits, the appellant argued that he could not have anticipated running two years before and resigned from his position because at the time he did not have political ambitions. Further, the appellant argued that the vice presidency is determined by the presidential candidate, not the vice president himself. The court determined that the word desire in the statute required a more thorough investigation into the facts. The court determined that the violation did not warrant disqualification from contesting the application, but that the Commission should impose a penalty within the Code’s stipulated penalties.

Conclusion: The decision of the National Election Commission was reversed and remanded for a determination of the penalty imposed on the co-appellant Karnwea.

Legal Issue(s)

Candidate Registration
Civil Procedure
EMB Independence

Region: Africa

Country: Liberia

Language of Decision

English

Court: Supreme Court

Election Type: Presidential

Date of decision: Jul 20, 2017

Geolocation

Latitude: 6.404914557

Longitude: -10.67993335

: Geolocation

Primary Documents

HARRISON-S.-KARNWEA-AND-LIBERTY-PARTY-V.-NATIONAL-ELECTIONS-COMMISSION-FINAL-JUDGMENT.pdf
english
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