10/12/2025
PRESS STATEMENT
For Immediate Release
December 10, 2025
CMC Calls for the Rejection of the Recently Passed House of Representative Threshold Bill
On December 9, 2025, the House of Representatives (HOR) passed a bill to increase Legislative seats at the HOR from 73 to 87. The bill, titled “Threshold Bill”, is not just a technical adjustment. It is classic gerrymandering, dressed up as “threshold reform,” where politicians have drawn the map and added seats to benefit themselves, not the people, and the Liberian people need to see it for what it is.
While the creation of legislative seats is provided for under the Constitutional, the HOR has taken upon itself a role not constitutionally prescribed to it but rather to the National Elections Commission (NEC). This is a usurpation of authority and is tantamount to the HOR deciding where seats go and how constituencies are drawn with the sole purpose of choose their voters, instead of voters choosing them. This role is left to the NEC purposefully and is supposed to use census data and clear rules to draw constituencies as fairly and equally as possible. This bill flips that logic and allows sitting lawmakers to decide where new seats go, which areas get extra voice, and how boundaries are drawn to protect incumbents and reward allies. By letting the Legislature usurp this authority and fix constituency arrangements, this bill takes power away from the NEC and hands it to the very people who stand to benefit. With only a limited number of seats allowed under the constitutional ceiling, each new district becomes a high‑value political asset and once those seats and boundaries are created to favor certain actors, they become extremely difficult to reverse. That is a direct attack on fair, neutral, population‑based districting.
Additionally, the Constitution’s benchmark is roughly 20,000 citizens per constituency, yet in practice some districts already have far more people per representative than others. If two counties each have about 400,000 people but one ends up with 6 seats (about 66,000 people per representative) and the other with 7 seats (about 57,000 per representative), citizens in the second county enjoy roughly 15–20% more representation per person. When politicians allocate new seats through the manner prescribed by this bill, they are hard‑wiring those inequalities into the map and some votes will be worth more, while others are worth less. That is discrimination by design and precisely why gerrymandering is so dangerous. It locks in political advantage for years.
Lastly, there are currently 73 seats in the HOR and Article 80(d) of the Constitution caps constituencies at 100. That means only 27 more can ever be created without changing the Constitution itself. If the current political class uses, 14 of those remaining seats now, it leaves just 13 seats for all future growth in the entire country. As the population rises, future constituencies will be larger, each representative will speak for more people, and your children and grandchildren will have weaker individual voices than today’s voters. This bill spends tomorrow’s democratic space on today’s political deals.
In addition to constitutional considerations, this bill also has huge negative economic impacts for the country. Every new lawmaker means a full package of costs: salary, benefits, allowances, staff, office expenses, vehicles, fuel, security, and election administration. Increasing the number of representative seats by 14, a nearly 20 percent increase, means increasing the annual legislative budget, which
currently stands at $52 million to approximately $54 million. This is a permanently escalating cost to the Liberian taxpayer which would result in redirecting tens of millions of dollars annually toward legislative expenses, making less funding available for critical sectors such as health, education, and social welfare.
Liberia is currently operating on a tight national budget measured in hundreds of millions of dollars, not trillions. Already facing pressing health challenges, every dollar spent on additional legislative salaries and benefits is a dollar not invested in hospitals, clinics, or vaccination programs. This diversion of funds translates directly to fewer resources for schools, teacher training, and student support, ultimately limiting opportunities for the nation’s youth. The possibility of implementing social welfare programs, which provide essential support to vulnerable populations, would also suffer budget cuts as a result of increased legislative spending. Furthermore, this undermines national development priorities. When government resources are allocated to maintaining a larger legislative body, there is less flexibility to respond to emergencies or invest in infrastructure that benefits the broader population. The long-term economic consequence is a cycle in which critical public services are underfunded, exacerbating inequality and hindering sustainable growth. In summary, while increasing representation may have its constitutional justifications, the economic argument against it is clear: the cost is not just the additional millions spent on the legislature, but also the opportunity cost of what those funds could have accomplished in health, education, and social welfare for all Liberians.
This bill should claim the attention and care of all Liberian for several reasons. Every extra political seat added is money taken away from essential services in your community. Gerrymandered seats mean some communities’ votes are structurally “heavier” than others. Once the remaining constitutional space and neutral map‑drawing are captured by politicians, it becomes much harder to fix injustices later. The Threshold Bill is gerrymandering, it is expensive, it is unequal, and it mortgages the political future of future generations. That is why every Liberian should pay attention and speak out.
The CMC rejects the Threshold Bill and calls on the Liberian Senate to refuse concurrence and stand with the people, not with political self-interest. We also urge the NEC, civil society, the Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA), churches, mosques, and traditional leaders to speak out against this manipulation of electoral boundaries. Lastly, we call on citizens, especially the youth, to stay peaceful but outspoken, question their representatives, demand explanations, and refuse to be fooled by technical language hiding political theft.
Liberia does not need more politicians. Liberia needs more honesty, more accountability, and real results.
About CMC
The Citizens Movement for Change (CMC) is a Liberia-first, citizens-driven political movement committed to a new era of accountability, opportunity, and dignity for every Liberian. For the People, By the People.
Signed:
James M. V. Yougie
Chairman
Citizens Movement for Change
