By Mabinty M. Kamara
Legislative Results announced by the Chief Electoral Commissioner have given the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) 60% of the total number of seats in the incoming Parliament.
Mohamed K. Konneh announced in Freetown Saturday the Parliamentary, Mayoral and Chairperson results of the recent General Elections broadcast live on TV and radio. The governing Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) will be dominating the next Parliament with a total number of 81 seats with the Main opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) Party securing 54 out of a total of 135 parliamentary seats.
The June 24 2023 elections were conducted using the Proportional Representation System of voting which requires an 11.9% per total district votes cast for a party to secure a seat.
There were four political parties in the 5th Parliament, with the SLPP having 58 seats, APC 59 seats, the National Grand Coalition (NGC) 4 seats, and the Coalition of Change (C4C) Party 8 seats.
A few weeks into the just- concluded elections, those referred to as smaller parties by Political analysts openly declared support for the two main political parties giving them more advantage. NGC declared support for the incumbent SLPP while the C4C members split up, with some members declaring support for either the SLPP or the APC leaving the party with no base.
The APC party in the 2018 general elections won more parliamentary seats than their main contender the SLPP through the First-Past – the Post electoral system.
However, the celebration was short-lived after a petition verdict slammed by Justice Komba Kamanda and Mohamed Stevens of the High Court of Sierra Leone saw ten seats being taken away from the APC.
The verdict followed an election petition filed by sixteen SLPP parliamentary aspirants who were dissatisfied with the election outcome, alleging electoral malpractices, and receiving salaries from the Consolidated Fund at the time they were vying for the seats, among others.
The decision back then placed the SLPP at an advantage with 58 seats and 57 for the APC.
The result of the latest presidential election announced last Tuesday 27th June saw incumbent President Julius maada Bio re-elected. But it has sparked controversy with the APC calling for a rerun of the elections or they will not participate in any governance in the country.
Copyright (c) 2023 Politico Online
