The Senate is the

upper house An upper house is one of two Legislative chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted p ...

of the

bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature that is divided into two separate Deliberative assembly, assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate ...

legislative branch A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the authority, legal authority to make laws for a Polity, political entity such as a Sovereign state, country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with th ...

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

, and together with the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

comprises the Legislature of Liberia. Each of the fifteen

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

are equally represented by two senators, elected to serve staggered nine-year terms. The Senate meets at the Capitol Building in

Monrovia Monrovia () is the administrative capital city, capital and largest city of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast and as of the 2022 census had 1,761,032 residents, home to 33.5% of Liber ...

. The Senate is largely modeled on the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

. The Constitution vests the legislative power of Liberia in both the Senate and the House, which must both concur on a bill prior to it being sent to the president. In addition, the Senate possesses several exclusive powers under the Constitution, including the power to

advise and consent ''Advise and Consent'' is a 1959 political fiction novel by Allen Drury that explores the United States Senate confirmation of controversial Secretary of State nominee Robert Leffingwell, whose promotion is endangered due to growing evidence ...

to the president's appointments to both the executive and judicial branches and the duty to try all public officials impeached by the House of Representatives.

History

The Senate of Liberia, along with the House of Representatives, inherited the legislative powers of the Council of the

Commonwealth of Liberia Liberia, officially the Colony of Liberia, later the Commonwealth of Liberia, was a Colony, private colony of the American Colonization Society between 1821, before becoming the self-proclaimed independent nation of the Liberia, Republic of Liberi ...

upon the country's

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another state or failed state, or are breaka ...

in 1847. Modeled on the United States Senate, the Liberian Senate contained two senators from each of the country's three counties, giving it a total membership of only six senators until the formation of Grand Cape Mount County in 1856 and the annexation of the

Republic of Maryland The Republic of Maryland (also known variously as the Independent State of Maryland, Maryland-in-Africa, and Maryland in Liberia) was a country in West Africa that existed from 1834 to 1857, when it was merged into what is now Liberia. The area ...

in 1857. The Senate again grew with the incorporation of four counties in 1964, and an additional four in 1984–1985. With the addition of the fifteenth county,

Gbarpolu County Gbarpolu is a Counties of Liberia, county in the northern portion of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the Administrative division, first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has six Districts of Liberia, districts. Bopulu ...

, in 2000, the Senate reached its current membership of thirty senators. As a result of political turmoil in Liberia during the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the Senate has been disbanded and reconstituted multiple times. Following the military ''coup d'état'' in 1980, the Senate was disbanded and several of its members executed, while its powers were vested in the People's Redemption Council. Upon the promulgation of the 1985 Constitution and subsequent 1985 general elections, the Senate was reconstituted, only to dissolve again upon the outbreak of the

First Liberian Civil War The First Liberian Civil War was the first of Second Liberian Civil War, two civil wars within the West African nation of Liberia which lasted between 1989 and 1997. President Samuel Doe's regime of totalitarianism and widespread Political cor ...

in 1990. Following a peace deal that ended the war, the Senate once again sat upon the successful holding of the 1997 general elections and remained constituted throughout the

Second Liberian Civil War The Second Liberian Civil War was a civil war in the West African nation of Liberia that lasted from 1999 to 2003. The war was mainly caused by transition failures after the First Civil War, especially the peace-building process which would res ...

from 1999 to 2003. The Accra Peace Accords that ended the civil war transferred the powers of the Senate to the unicameral National Transitional Legislative Assembly of Liberia for two years, after which voters elected a new Senate in the 2005 general election. Historically, the Senate was dominated by the president's political party. From 1877 until the 1980 coup, the

True Whig Party The True Whig Party (TWP), also known as the Liberian Whig Party (LWP), is the oldest political party in Liberia and Africa as a whole. Founded in 1869 by primarily darker-skinned Americo-Liberians in rural areas, its historic rival was the Re ...

of the Americo-Liberian minority held a virtual monopoly on the national government, including almost all of the seats in the Senate. Samuel Doe's National Democratic Party of Liberia and Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Party held large majorities in the Senate during their respective presidencies. Following the 2005 general elections, which were widely considered to be the most free and fair in Liberian history, a total of nine parties won seats in the Senate. No single party won a majority of the seats, a first in Liberian political history.

Membership

Eligibility

Article 30 of the Constitution sets four requirements for members of the Senate: 1) they must possess Liberian citizenship, 2) must be at least thirty years old, 3) must have been domiciled in the county which they represent for at least one year prior to their election, and 4) must be a taxpayer. Under the 1847 Constitution, senators were required to own a certain value of real estate within their county, which in effect limited the ability of indigenous citizens to be elected to the Senate. Property ownership as a requirement for election was eliminated in the current Constitution.

Elections

Article 83(b) of the 1985 Constitution originally established a

two-round system The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

for Senate elections, whereby if no candidate received a majority of the vote, a second election contested by the two candidates with the highest number of votes was held one month later. The Accra Peace Accord temporarily suspended this provision for the 2005 legislative elections, which utilized the

First-past-the-post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

(FPTP)

voting system An electoral or voting system is a set of rules used to determine the results of an election. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections may take place in business, nonprofit organizations and inf ...

. In 2011, Article 83(b) was amended by

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

to require FPTP voting in all future legislative elections.

Oath

The Constitution requires all senators to take an

oath Traditionally, an oath (from Old English, Anglo-Saxon ', also a plight) is a utterance, statement of fact or a promise taken by a Sacred, sacrality as a sign of Truth, verity. A common legal substitute for those who object to making sacred oaths ...

or affirmation upon assuming their office. The Secretary of the Senate administers the oath to all senators on their first day of sitting in the Senate. The following oath is specified by the Constitution:

Term

Under the original 1847 Constitution, senators served a term of four years without term limits. The term length was increased to six-year by constitutional amendment in 1904. The draft 1985 Constitution set the terms of senators at eight years, though the length was changed to nine years by the military government prior to its ratification. Senatorial terms have been staggered under both constitutions, with two classes of senators being elected in alternating election years. The 2005 Senate elections reinstated this method, with each voter able to cast two ballots for separate candidates. The candidate with the highest number of votes was elected as a First Category senator, serving a nine-year term, followed by elections in 2014.Results of the 2014 half senate elections
/ref> The candidate with the second-highest number of votes became a Second Category senator, serving an exceptional six-year term, followed by elections in 2011 for a normal nine-year term. Since 2011 elections are staggered whereby each county elects one senator (2011-2020), then another senator three years later (2014-2023) followed by a six-year period in which no senators are elected (no half senate elections in 2017).

Midterm vacancies

In the event of a senator's death, resignation, ascension to a disqualifying office, incapacity or expulsion prior to the completion of his or her term, the Senate is required to notify the National Elections Commission within 30 days of the vacancy. The NEC then carries out a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

within 90 days of such notification to fill the vacancy. Senators elected in a by-election only serve the remainder of their predecessor's term.

Duties

Legislation

Bills may originate in either the House or the Senate with the exception of revenue bills, which Article 34(d)(i) requires to originate in the House. Bills originating in the House, including revenue bills, may be amended by the Senate and sent back to the House. Both chambers are required to pass the same bill in order for it to be sent to the president for signature or veto. If differences exist in the two versions passed by the House and the Senate, a

conference committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

made up of members of both chambers may be formed to negotiate a single bill for passage by the chambers.

Checks and balances

The Senate, along with the House, must approve any

treaties A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by international law. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, convention ...

or other international agreements signed by the president. Should the president veto any bill passed by the House and the Senate, the veto may be overturned by a vote of two-thirds of the members in each chamber. The Constitution also grants the Senate several exclusive powers to check the actions of the executive branch. Under Article 54, the president's appointments of ministers, judges, county officials, military officers and other officers must be confirmed by the Senate. The Senate is also responsible for trying the president, the vice president, and judges in the event that they are impeached by the House. Conviction and removal from office requires the consent of two-thirds of the senators.

Structure

Sessions

The Senate holds one regular session every year, beginning on the second working Monday of January and ending on August 31, with a two-week break for

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

. Under Article 32(b) of the Constitution, the Senate, by concurrence of one-fourth of its members and one-fourth of the members of the House, or the president, on his or her own initiative, may extend the session past its adjournment or call for an extraordinary session outside of the regular session. Plenary sessions are held every Tuesday and Thursday, with committees meeting on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Leadership

Article 51 of the Constitution states that the

vice president A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

"shall be President of the Senate and preside over its deliberations without the right to vote, except in the case of a tie vote." In practice, the vice president rarely fulfills this role, with a president pro tempore, elected from among the senators, presiding over the Senate in the vice president's absence. Unlike the

president pro tempore of the United States Senate The president pro tempore of the United States Senate (often shortened to president pro tem) is the second-highest-ranking official of the United States Senate, after the Vice President of the United States, vice president. According to Articl ...

, which is a largely ceremonial role traditionally granted to the most senior senator from the majority party, the office of President pro tempore in Liberia is heavily contested among the senators. The president pro tempore may be removed from office with the concurrence of two-thirds of the senators. In addition to the president pro tempore, the Senate elects a Secretary of the Senate, Assistant Secretary of the Senate and a

Sergeant-at-Arms A serjeant-at-arms or sergeant-at-arms is an officer appointed by a deliberative body, usually a legislature, to keep order during its meetings. The word "serjeant" is derived from the Latin , which means "servant". Historically, serjeants-at-a ...

as officers of the Senate, though these positions are not held by sitting senators.

Committees

Article 38 of the Constitution empowers both houses of the Legislature to create both committees and sub-committees, with the only caveat being that the Committee on Ways, Means, Finance and Budget is required to consist of one senator from each county. Each committee is headed by a chairperson, appointed by the president pro tempore. In the 52nd Legislature, the twenty-six standing committees were: