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8/26/2020 Jupica vs Nec – Supreme Court of Liberia WHEREFORE IN VIEW OF THE FOREGOING, IT IS THE PRAYER OF MOVANT THAT YOUR HONORS WILL: 1. Grant Petitioners’ Petition and issue an Alternative Writ of Prohibition against the 1st and 2nd Respondents to enjoin, stop and stay any further actions or proceedings on their part; 1. b. Regarding the holding of senatorial elections throughout the length and breadth of this Republic; 1. c. Order a stay on any withdrawal, use or allocation of financial resources or any logistics geared at holding the pending elections which are totally illegal and unconstitutional; 1. Order a stay on all actions and activities whether constructive, actual or implied or physical in the form of campaign meetings, gatherings, political rallies or exchanges of communications between would-be candidates as well as press releases, radio talk shows and order the parties to refrain from all actions in the form of campaigns pending the final determination of this petition; 1. e. Issue the Peremptory Writ of Prohibition after the conduct of a conference with the parties, and thereafter impose other imperative ex parte remedial actions necessary to prevent and avert any further abuse and violations of the 1986 Constitution specifically Articles 46 and 37; 1. Order that the parties return to STATUS QUO ANTE and instruct the 1St and 2nd Respondent not to hold any program regarding the said elections pending the final determination of this petition; 1. g. Make or issue any instruction that will compel the 2nd Respondent herein to refrain from wasting precious state resources on a fake and illegal elections and compel both 1st and 2nd Respondents to file their Returns and show cause why the Peremptory Writ cannot be issued; 1. h. Set aside the any insalubrious constitutional argument regarding the so-called State of Emergency, curfew and the lip service fight against Ebola on grounds that holding of senatorial elections at this time could spread the deadly Ebola virus and expose our citizens to premature deaths; 1. i. Pass any order, make any declaration to declare the senatorial elections unconstitutional pursuant to the intent and purposes of the constitutional guarantee of chapter 1 Article 1 of the 1986 Constitution which exclusively arid unequivocally vests power in the people to determine the form and mariner of holding elections to fill in vacancies and guarantee unto Petitioners and all Liberians pursuant to the interpretative powers of this Honorable Court under Article 2 of the 1986 Constitution a free and unfettered democratic environment and declare as constitutionally void ab initio the entire December 16, 2014 senatorial electoral process; 1. j. Grant unto Petitioners these and all further relief that Your Honor will determine as fair, just, legitimate and legal to advance the aspirations of the people’s rights under Article 1 of the 1986 Constitution so as to protect the current democratic process from all forms of political comnetitsolutionsinc.org/toj/jupica-vs-nec-2/ 14/27

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Jupica vs Nec

Judgment

Question Presented: Whether the postponement of the Liberian elections to a date when the Ebola threat was still ongoing was unconstitutional?

Alleged Acts: In February of 2014, Liberia was devasted by Ebola virus and on August 6, 2014 the President declared a state of emergency. Elections were scheduled for October 14, 2014 and the National Elections Commission (NEC) informed the government of the impossibility of adhering to the order, which restricted the freedom of movement, and holding the elections on that date. The President issued a proclamation suspending the elections on October 4, 2014 and the legislature endorsed that action but included that the election must be held no later than December 20, 2014. The NEC consulted with the political parties, civil society groups, and religious groups to determine the date of elections and agreed upon December 16, 2016. The Legislature passed a resolution authorizing the elections to be held on December 16 ,2014 and the President signed the resolution into law. The resolution was passed and signed into law when the state of emergency in Liberia was still ongoing. The petitioners filed suit seeking the setting of a date to be undone because it was illegal and the Ebola virus was still present in the nation.

Summary: Because the state of emergency was still in effect, the court determined that the law constituted a modification of the state of emergency originally set forth by the President’s state of emergency order. Although the court stated that elections would need to have guidelines that requires strict adherence in order to protect the health of constituents, the court stated that the election could stand because it was a political questions and could not be purely determined by the courts. Further, if the court had the power to determine that the Executive and Legislative branches’ set election date could be overruled by the court, it would also need the power to compel a new election date.

Conclusion: The court ultimately denied the petitioner’s request.

Legal Issue(s)

Electoral Administration Irregularities
EMB Independence
Health Concerns & Election Administration

Region: Africa

Country: Liberia

Language of Decision

English

Court: Supreme Court

Election Type: General

Date of decision: Jan 13, 2016

Geolocation

Latitude: 6.404914557

Longitude: -10.67993335

: Geolocation

Primary Documents

Jupica vs Nec – Supreme Court of Liberia.pdf
English
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Jupica vs Nec

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