By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
At a Post-Election Seminar with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) held in Freetown on the 30th of January 2024, Speaker of the Sierra Leone Parliament, Dr. Abass Chernor Bundu has reflected on events leading to the recent elections in Sierra Leone and their outcomes.
Addressing representatives from CPA and the Sierra Leone Parliament, the Speaker noted that the Pre-2023 election period in Sierra Leone was underpinned by a couple of significant events that informed and shaped the conduct of the multi-tier elections itself and accounted also for some critical decisions. He said Legislative decisions in Parliament were very much at the centre of most of the occurrences within that period which was the review of the electoral laws of Sierra Leone.
He stated that the country’s constituency-based elections were replaced by the District Block Representation System, and the first past the post system was replaced by a form of proportional representation, to serve as the electoral system for the 2023 General Elections. He said that the adoption of the District Block Representation System meant that each electoral district was assigned several seats based on the population data that emanated from the 2021 census results.
Dr. Bundu highlighted that those pre-election decisions were backed by available legislation that eventually guided the conduct of the 2023 multi-tierelections.
“First, there was the constitution of Sierra Leone (Amendment) Act 2001 that introduced the district block system that was first applied in the election of 2002. The second important legislation was the Public Elections Act of 2022,” he said.
He explained that key provisions in these legislations helped to shape and even support the full implementation of other laws that were enacted by Parliament, saying, the various actions undertaken during the elections were premised on available laws that gave authenticity and credence to its practical application.
He quoted various provisions in sections of the Constitution of Sierra Leone to confirm the reality that the 2023 elections were conducted within the ambit of laws enacted by Parliament. Highlighting the merits of the Legal framework leading to the Elections, he stated that, unlike previous elections during the post-2002 era in Sierra Leone, the June 2023 elections stood out as one in which the legal framework and electoral system became a notable feature leading to its conduct.
Speaker Bundu further stated that the Public Elections Act (PEA) and the Political Party Act (PPA) were supplemented by other laws and regulations, which laid a solid foundation for democratic elections. He said, that despite some criticisms levied against the legal framework leading to the elections, the relevant laws that were enacted sufficiently responded to the aspirations of the people of Sierra Leone and the emerging challenges that characterized the elections.
He pointed out that the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) Act introduced a 30 per cent quota for women's representation in public and private bodies, positively advancing the quest toward gender parity. He said that there was a significant increase in the number of female MPs in Parliament.
“This is the result of the combined operation of the system of proportional representation and the Public Elections Act. Today, for directly elected female MPs, representation stands at 30.4% (41 out of 135 elected seats). The overall proportion of women who are MPs stands at 28.2% (42 out of a total of 149 seats; 28.2% representation is well above the average in West Africa which stands at 18.4%,” he said.
The Speaker recalled that there have been contestations from especially the main opposition APC party, but said within this period efforts have been made by both sides of the political divide to engage in constructive dialogue, to build bridges of collaborative and cooperative governance, focusing mainly on the gains of democracy, and also with a commitment to record improvement where and when needed.
He concluded that “dialogue between political parties in Parliament is and will always remain a better option.”
The event was climaxed with the official opening of the Seminar by the Speaker of the Sierra Leone Parliament, Dr. Abass Chernor Bundu.
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