By Nasratu Kargbo
The latest report by the Institute for Governance Reform (IGR) has indicated that 88% of respondents have indicated their preference for democracy as the preferred system of governance, which is the highest ratio in the whole West African region and almost 20% above the regional average.
“An even larger majority, comprising 91% of Sierra Leoneans, unequivocally support regular, honest, and transparent elections as the means to select their leaders, which is a close second to Liberia with 92%, and 17% above the regional average” the report reads in part.
Releasing the report on Thursday 14th of September this year, the Executive Director of IGR Andrew Lavali said that the data was collected from all the West African countries –using the latest Afrobarometer report.
He said despite the fact that there is massive economic hardship in Sierra Leone and the questions about the election, people still prefer democracy to military rule.
"People still need democracy because the survey shows that 92% of Sierra Leoneans are saying leaders should be chosen through regular and open elections," he said.
He added that Sierra Leone is still promising when you look at the wider amount of citizens who are really committed to a democratic system of giving.
On its preference for Democracy as against military rule, Sierra Leone is closely followed by Senegal with 84%, Benin 79%, Mauritania 77%, Ghana 76%, Liberia 74%, Garbon 71%, Cote d’Ivoire 70%, Nigeria,70%, Togo 68%, Guinea 67%, Gambia 64, Niger 61%, Cameroon 55%, Burkina Faso 55% and Mali-39% with the least preference for multi-party rule. However, 67% of the respondents say leaders should be chosen through regular and open elections.
According to the report, opinions about the role of the opposition parties after losing an election show higher variation. A majority (69%) of Sierra Leoneans believe that opposition parties should accept defeat and collaborate with the government to foster the country's development.
The report covers other areas such as the economy of Sierra Leone for which 87% of Sierra Leoneans said the economy is bad or really bad while 72% of Sierra Leoneans said that the country is heading in the wrong direction, pointing to the current state of the economy and the continuous hike in prices of food and other essential commodities.
According to the researchers, a random selection of 1, 200 respondents was carried out, with a 3% margin of error at a 95% confidence interval, using face-to-face interviews to collect data from 7th to 11th of September 2023.
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