History of the NEC
Historically, NEC has its origin from the Constitution of Liberia. At its inception, NEC was called Elections Commission (ECOM), deriving its constitutional strength from Chapter X, Article 89.
By statute, ECOM was then comprised of five members called commissioners. However in 2003, an Act of the National Legislature was passed increasing the number of commissioners to seven. This increment was upheld by the August 18, 2003 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) on Liberia signed in Accra, Ghana. Also, Article XIX of the CPA gave rise to the current National Elections commission in February 2004.
Specifically, the authorities of NEC, inherited from its predecessor, ECOM, are enshrined in Chapter 2, Section 9, Sub Section a-x of the New Elections Law of 1986.