By Mustapha Sesay
In recent times the international community has praised the National Electoral Commission (NEC) for conducting elections they’d described as ‘free and fair’, especially those conducted in 2007 and 2012. Both elections apparently witnessed little direct involvement of outsiders, the international community, into the process.
Amidst this praise from the outside world the former ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), now the main opposition, had contrary views on those elections, more especially the 2007 ones which saw the party exit power after the NEC’s chairperson, Christiana Thorpe, nullified over two hundred thousand (200,000) votes. The SLPP still thought that those were part of winning numbers. They had since vehemently criticized the commission of being bias. However, the results were later accepted in what the SLPP said was “in the interest of peace.” Again in 2012 the party took the commission to court for alleged electoral malpractice in the 2012 elections but the case was thrown out of court on technical grounds, a decision the opposition has refused to accept as genuine.
At a time like this when the commission enjoys a huge international recognition for jobs well-done in the past, albeit strong criticisms from the opposition for being ‘bias’, the commission is faced with yet another crucial moment in performing its mandate.
It has been widely rumored that the Commission would not be conducting the local council elections slated for 2016 as mandated by law.
At their Tower Hill headquarters in Freetown, very close to State House and House of Parliament, the public relations officer of NEC, Albert Massaquoi, explained to Politico that it was possible for the elections to be conducted in 2016 without the census result. He, however, observed that it would mean that they would have to use the District Block System (DBS) which would take into account equal representation in all districts across the country, irrespective of the size and numbers of people in a particular area. In that kind of arrangement each district would have 8 parliamentary representatives.
The DBS was introduced in 2002 to replace the Proportional Representation (PR). The PR system, on the other hand, was adopted in 1996 to elect members of parliament. It was an electoral system where parties, rather than constituencies, determined elections to parliamentary representation. Both the DBS and PR electoral systems did not adequately obligate Members of Parliament (MPs) to their constituents, as popularity within their parties was more important than popularity among constituents or the people.
This showed that arriving at the first past the post system of elections that was adopted in 2007 and 2012, which took cognizance of population and constituency in determining parliamentary representation, should be regarded as giant gain made by NEC. It is nonetheless worth noting that 2007 and 2012 only registered the reintroduction of the constituency electoral system that was interrupted by the exigencies of the civil war between 1991 and 2002.
The parliament that first emerged from the electoral system saw the first litmus test of the true spirit and intent of the 1991 Constitution Act No. 6 of Section 38 (1) and (2) of the 1991 which explicitly states that: “Sierra Leone shall be divided into such constituencies for the purpose of electing the Members of Parliament referred to in paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section (74) of this Constitution as the Electoral Commission, acting with the approval of Parliament signified by resolution of Parliament, may prescribe.”
“Every constituency established under this section shall return one Member of Parliament.”
But to successfully undertake the process of boundary delimitation, which would inform the number of constituencies that would be in conformity with the constitutional provision indicated, referred to above would remain as a challenge to NEC. That would also hinge on the fact that census result, which is considered to be key in boundary delimitation, would not be available before the slated 2016 elections.
Therefore, the 2016 elections should take into account the current population and number of councilors, chairmen and parliamentarians that should be on the election list, and most importantly the census result and boundary delimitation which were still being used beyond their 7 years’ limit as stated by law.
NEC has referred to the process of delimitation of boundaries in a position paper issued on the postponement of the 2014 census as “necessary” but “far more complicated and much more controversial”. It said it was also an administratively demanding but also a politically tricky exercise. Therefore, the paper stated that it was important to create a level playing field for all stakeholders in the electoral process, adding that constituency and ward boundaries must be drawn in a transparent, fair and professional manner without giving political advantage to any political party or candidate.
Meanwhile, the NEC PRO was hopeful. He noted that in line with the above concerns, the commission had undertaken massive engagements with their partners, including international organizations to come up with a decision that would reflect the views of all stakeholders that were connected to the election process.
Massaquoi confirmed that during their engagements with the different political parties the NEC boss had advised them to channel any concern they had, in line with the conduct of 2016 elections, to the Commission.
Whatever the case the whole country would be delimited based on the census result and this would certainly have some positive and negative ramifications on some areas. In other words some of these areas would definitely record high representation while others would have their elected representatives reduced, the NEC PRO said. He cited the Western Urban and Western Rural as areas that would record an increase in Members of Parliament based on population hike in those areas.
Conducting elections is an expensive business, more so for a country like ours which heavily depends on international support. Thus, some citizens observed that it would be a waste of resources for the commission to undertake electoral process that would not be reflective of the current population in the country. Some even argued that 2016 local council elections and 2017 parliamentary elections would be too close and just before the 2017/18 presidential elections. The census result would make boundary delimitation possible and in a transparent manner too. So, the local council elections, which were being considered as less important, could wait for the major elections in 2017. That would provide equal opportunity to the benefit from boundary delimitation.
But the opposition SLPP has different perspective to this view expressed by some Sierra Leoneans. The deputy leader and chairman of SLPP, Dr. Prince Harding, told Politico that if NEC wanted to postpone the 2016 elections it needed to get political and constitutional backing and as a party they might not subscribe to any deferment of the process.
Dr. Harding also noted that as a party they might want to use the 2016 elections to test their strength and know their weakness in terms of their party structure. “This election would serve as litmus test for us. It is more than the vote and if it’s postponed the purpose of democracy would be defeated.”
However, NEC is not oblivious of some of these concerns raised by the opposition, but deferment is one of its options on the possible way forward. This was highlighted in the position paper issued by the commission.
The ruling All Peoples Congress (APC) on the other hand had also denied ever influencing NEC to postpone the 2016 elections as alleged by opposition SLPP.
(C) Politico 16/06/15
