Monrovia – The National Elections Commission (NEC) says it has received a notification from the House of Representatives announcing a vacancy in that august body created by the death of the late Representative Adolph A. Lawrence of District # 15 in Montserrado County.
The notification from the House of Representatives, dated Wednesday, April 29, said Representative Lawrence died during a tragic motor accident on the Robertsfield highway.
The notification signed by the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives, Mildred N. Sayon, informs the NEC that the “document constitutes the legal and efficient authority to conduct the By-election in district # 15 in Montserrado County.”
The Liberian Constitution, under Article 37 says that in the event of a vacancy in the Legislature caused by death, resignation, expulsion or otherwise, the Presiding Officer shall within 30 days notify the Elections Commission thereof, and the Commission shall not later than 90 days thereafter cause a by-election to be held, provided that where such vacancy occurs within 90 days prior to the holding of general elections.
The National Elections Commission has set July 2, 2019 as the Election Day to conduct jointly the Senatorial and District #15 Representative by-elections in Montserrado County.
In another development, the Executive Director C. A. Lamin Lighe and Director of Field Coordination Deddeh Pusah at NEC left the country today, 2 May 2019 for South Africa to serve as International Observers in the 8 May 2019 General Elections in South Africa.
The announced by-election is also as a result of the death of the late Senator Geraldine Doe Sheriff had succumbed to cancer on Saturday, February 9, after battling the killer disease for over a year. The Senator died in Accra, Ghana, at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in where she had gone for treatment.
Madam Doe-Sheriff won the seat left vacant after the death of Senator Hannah Brent, who was a member of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC). At the time, the late Senator Doe-Sheriff described her victory as an indictment on the policies of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.