By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
Sierra Leone's opposition National Grand Coalition (NGC) has ended its boycott of the electoral process with the announcement of its intention to contest upcoming by-elections in Waterloo and Koinadugu.
The party said the decision was necessitated by a show of commitment by the National Electoral Commission (NEC) to implement electoral reforms.
NGC and the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) in March announced that they were withholding cooperation with the NEC which they accused of bias under an “incompetent” chairman, Mohamed Nfa Ali Conteh.
It followed the conduct of a Local Council by-election in Tonko Limba Chiefdom in the Kambia District, which the governing Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) won. Both NGC and APC consider the area as their stronghold. They claimed that the NEC skewed the process in favor of SLPP.
The opposition parties vowed that they wouldn’t participate in any feature poll organized by a NEC under Conteh’s chairmanship.
“It is obvious that such honorable acts are not within the moral compass of the leadership as business has continued at NEC as usual. However, the NGC notes that a committee has been set up to steer the implementation of the recommendations of the 2018 Election Observer Missions in which a significant number of reforms pertaining to electoral laws and practice are proposed,” the party said in a statement on Monday signed by its leader and chairman, Dr Dennis Bright.
“It is hereby announced that the NGC will be contesting the parliamentary bye elections in constituency 110 slated for 24th August 2019 in the Western Area Rural District and constituency 043 in the Koinadugu District on 21st September 2019,” it added.
This sudden U-turn by NGC leaves APC out in the cold, as the only party which is currently boycotting the electoral process.
Yet both seats that are up for bye-elections were occupied by APC Members of Parliament.
The previous occupant of the seat in Constituency 043 passed away, whiles the one in Constituency 110 was declared vacant by a controversial High Court ruling in May this year.
NGC has already named Ibrahim Kabba as its candidate for the contest in Constituency 110. He is scheduled to be officially nominated on Thursday.
NGC, currently with four seats in parliament, has a reasonable chance of increasing its number of seat in the House by at least one if the APC maintains its boycott of the electoral process for the two pending elections.
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