Sierra Leone - June 2023 Elections
Sierra Leone, one of West Africa’s smallest but oldest states elects a new president and government June 2023. On June 24, 2023, 3.4 million Sierra Leoneans will head to the polls to vote for a new president. This will be the fifth election since the brutal 10-year civil war — and it is expected to follow the peaceful and somewhat democratic nature of its four predecessors. Two familiar candidates are competing to lead this country of 8.4 million people. The incumbent, President Julius Maada Bio, is seeking re-election and has promised to prioritise improving access to public education and boosting agricultural production. Samura Kamara, the runner-up in the last presidential election of 2018, is the other candidate for the nation’s top role.
Sierra Leone is a constitutional republic with a directly elected president and a unicameral legislature. In 2018, the Sierra Leone People’s Party candidate, Julius Maada Bio, won the presidential elections. Observers found the elections to be largely free and fair. Following the 2018 general elections, the Sierra Leone People’s Party and the All People’s Congress each held 58 seats in parliament; however, subsequent by-elections in June gave the All People’s Congress a one-seat advantage with 59 members. These by-elections were considered free and fair.
Strong ethnic loyalties, biases, and stereotypes existed among all ethnic groups. Ethnic loyalty was an important factor in the government, armed forces, and business. Complaints of ethnic discrimination in government appointments and contract assignments were common.
Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killings; cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by government or on behalf of government; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention; substantial interference with the freedom of peaceful assembly; serious government corruption; lack of investigation of and accountability for gender-based violence, including domestic or intimate partner violence, sexual violence, child, early, and forced marriage, and female genital mutilation/cutting; crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex persons; and laws criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual conduct between adults, although the laws were not enforced.
On 02 July 2022, police issued a public notice banning protests concerning rising fuel and other costs of living. On July 3, police arrested CoPPP leader Femi Claudius Cole on “incitement” charges for allegedly organizing protests, after a video circulated on social media in which she urged women to take to the streets. Police also arrested NGC Chair Dennis Bright, also a CoPPP member, after he attempted to visit Cole in jail. Cole said she and a women’s group had applied for a permit to protest but authorities had denied the request. On July 4, the SLP arrested dozens of market women attempting to protest.
On 10 August 2022, during demonstrations that turned violent, the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) shot and killed 30 protesters, mostly unarmed youth, in the capital city of Freetown and in the towns of Makeni and Kamakwie. Protesters killed six police officers. When August 10 demonstrations turned violent, with protesters burning police stations and government buses, the government declared a nationwide state of emergency, with a curfew from 3:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. the following day. A 7:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. curfew remained in force until August 13. The state of emergency granted the president broad powers to maintain peace and order, including mandating restrictions on movement and assembly as needed. The state of emergency affected religious services for Muslims, restricted social gatherings and spectator sports, and closed nightclubs and cinemas.
After the demonstrations, the SLP reportedly arrested hundreds of persons at their homes in Freetown and other towns without warrants. In the days following violent protests on August 10, authorities conducted raids throughout Freetown, Makeni, and other provincial towns. Authorities claimed to use video evidence to confirm the identities of suspects; however, several reports suggested some police targeted opposition All People’s Congress (APC) party supporters as “persons of interest,” irrespective of their connection to specific events on August 10. Members of the APC reported their arrested members were denied access to counsel. Some were subsequently released while others remained in custody pending trial.
Paramount chiefs in villages maintained their own police and courts to enforce customary local law. This parallel system of tribal government operated in each of the 190 chiefdoms. Chieftaincy police and courts exercised authority to arrest, try, and incarcerate individuals. Traditional trials were generally fair, but there was credible evidence corruption influenced many cases, as paramount chiefs acting as judges routinely accepted bribes and favored wealthier defendants. The HRCSL and the DHRMGs further reported that traditional authorities charged offenses not within their jurisdictional powers and violated the rights of persons when prescribing punishment.
There were reports police committed cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment of prisoners or detainees. Prison and detention center conditions were harsh and sometimes life threatening due to gross overcrowding, an inefficient justice system, lack of sufficient correctional facilities and personnel, inadequate sanitary conditions, and a lack of proper medical care in prison facilities. The SLP and chiefdom police occasionally arrested and detained persons arbitrarily, including members of opposition parties. Pretrial and remand detainees spent an average of three to five years in pretrial detention before courts examined their cases or filed formal charges, frequently exceeding the maximum sentence for the alleged crime.
All citizens have the right to vote, but citizenship at birth is granted only to persons of “Negro-African” descent, thus disenfranchising the significant number of Lebanese and other “non-Negro-African” persons who were born in and resided in the country.
Following 25 June 2023 parliamentary by-elections in Tonkolili District, the opposition APC increased their representation to 59 parliamentary seats, while the incumbent SLPP retained 58. The Tonkolili by-elections were considered free, fair, and mostly peaceful. By-elections in Koinadugu and Kono Districts in October and November 2021, respectively, were marred by violence, intimidation, and allegations of vote tampering.
Alongside the presidential poll, Sierra Leone will also hold parliamentary and local council elections. The last parliament, dissolved on April 25, was composed of 132 directly elected members (MPs) and 14 paramount chief members of parliament (PCMPs). The new parliament, after the June 24 elections, will constitute 135 MPs and 14 PCMPs. Unlike the presidential election, the vote will be conducted under the district block proportional representation system as opposed to the constituency-based first-past-the-post system used since 2007. The election of PCMPs will also take place on June 24.
Since the proportional representative system will be used to elect members of parliament and councillors, voters will cast their votes for these two positions separately. In this round, voters select their political parties of choice, instead of directly voting for individual candidates.
Votes are physically counted at polling stations and electronically tallied at the district and regional tallying centres led by the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL), which manages the country’s national elections. At the polling stations, the ballot papers go through five stages — screening, reunification, reconciliation, sorting and counting. After the counting, the station’s presiding officer announces the results for agents and observers to record.
The proportional representation system is used to elect members of parliament and councillors. Parliament seats are allocated by region. The allocation of the 135 seats by region is as follows: 32 seats for the east, 26 for the north, 21 for the northwest, 30 seats for the south, and 26 seats for the west. A political party or an independent candidate must meet the threshold of 11.9 percent for members of parliament and 4.5 percent for councillors to earn a seat or a seat share. When the threshold is met, the party or independent candidate then receives a share of the seats based on the proportion of votes received.
To be declared winner, a presidential candidate must secure 55 percent of the total votes. If this is not achieved in the first round of voting, a run-off election will be held between the two candidates with the highest votes — as was the case in the 2018 election.
Sierra Leone's President Julius Maada Bio was re-elected with 56.17 percent to serve a second term, the head of the electoral commission said on 27 June 2021 following a process disputed by the opposition. His main challenger Samura Kamara came second with 41.16 percent of the vote, according to final results announced in Freetown by commission chief Mohamed Kenewui Konneh. The party alleged "overvoting" in some areas and said it "continues to reject" the "fabricated results" and "reaffirms our victory". European Union observers said a lack of transparency and communication by the electoral authority had led to mistrust in the electoral process.
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