By Aminata Phidelia Allie
Three opposition political parties have blamed their poor showing at the 17 November elections on the lack of finance. They say this cost them seats in parliamentary.
At a press conference organised by the Political Parties' Registration Commission in Freetown, leaders of Peace and Liberation Party (PLP), United National People's Party (UNPP), the Citizens' Democratic Party (CDP) and other smaller parties lamented their inability to raise funds for their campaigns.
They say they were however grateful to the European Union elections observers for detecting “such a big gap in our country’s politics.”
Presidential candidate of the PLP, Dr. Kandeh Baba Conteh, told Politico that his party was able to field in only 18 candidates for the mayoral, parliamentary and councilor positions countrywide.
“We were without representation in most areas in the country. Because we don’t want confusion, we have decided to keep quiet,” he said, and expressed disappointment in the international community whom he said were “always complaining about the two big parties yet they keep supporting them and not the smaller parties to grow.”
The politician, who ran for the second time this year as leader of his party, complained that his party was only given 140 party agents to be trained, which he said was a number far smaller, when compared to the ruling and the main opposition parties.
He said the elections were “free but not fair” and that they had been “bullied” from the beginning. “Money is the only thing that separates me and power” he bemoaned.
Meanwhile, in their 19 November preliminary statement, the European Union election observer mission, said that “CDP, UNPP, PLP or PDP did not organise any public meeting during the days allocated to them in a number of districts, despite many candidates campaigning door to door. As no state financial support is made available to political parties, their ability to compete in elections is impaired.”
The statement notes that the two main parties provided supporters with “campaign materials, t-shirts, food, drink, including alcoholic beverages, and free transportation to rallies. Distribution of money was directly observed by the EU EOM at APC campaign events in Bonthe, Bo and Kenema.”
According to the EU observer team: “Campaign finance is barely regulated and PPRC [Political Parties’ Registration Commission] has little control over the source and volume of campaign funds. This makes possible a blurred separation between the ruling party resources and state resources. EU observers reported the use of a significant number of government vehicles by the APC presidential candidate for campaigning in Kenema and Kailahun.”
© Politico 29/11/2012
