Background

Sierra Leone’s 2007 presidential and parliamentary elections were important milestones for the country’s political development, as these polls represented the first time that a democratically elected government in Sierra Leone was replaced by another democratically elected government. Sierra Leoneans turned out in large numbers to select a president, vice president, and 112 Members of Parliament (MPs) during the 2007 balloting and elected Hon. Ernest Bai Koroma of the All People’s Congress (APC) to the presidency.  In July 2008, Sierra Leone held local government elections, only the third such elections to be conducted in over four decades. 

While Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war formally ended in 2002, the newly elected national and local government structures struggle to rebuild the country’s institutions and address the many needs of its population.

The new parliament is the most diverse in Sierra Leone’s history, with the APC holding 59 seats; the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), the former ruling party, with 43 seats; and the People’s Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) with 10 seats. Sixteen MPs are women, and one MP is disabled—the first person with a disability to be elected to office in Sierra Leone’s history. Twelve paramount chiefs were also nominated and elected by indirect ballot, bringing the total number of parliamentarians to 124. 

Local government elections held on July 5, 2008, presented an important opportunity to institutionalize democratic processes practiced during the 2007 national elections.   The July elections also provided an opportunity to increase the number, effectiveness, and visibility of women participating in political life, and following these elections the percentage of councilors who are women increased from 11 percent to almost 19 percent.

Current Activities

Following the July local government elections, NDI is working with local civil society organizations (CSOs) to conduct civic education about the role of local government in development and the relationship between citizens and government to  promote citizen engagement in the political process. NDI is also holding cross-sector post-election roundtables to discuss lessons learned from the 2008 local government elections. 

Despite concrete steps to advance peace and democratic development in Sierra Leone since the end of the civil war in 2001, Sierra Leonean women continue to face significant challenges to full participation in politics.  To assist women who are serving in office for the first time, NDI is conducting a program to train women who were elected to local councils on their roles and responsibilities as a councilor, how to work with community members, budget analysis, leadership, negotiation skills, and public speaking, so that women councilors, including some who are illiterate, are better prepared to serve the needs of their communities over the next four years.

Past Activities

Launching its Sierra Leone program in 2001, NDI has worked  through civic forums with CSOs, MPs, political parties, the security sector, and other actors to strengthen civic participation and political institutions in post-conflict Sierra Leone. NDI also implemented a countrywide program to increase and strengthen communication between MPs, local councilors, and constituents on priority issues and concerns in the districts and worked to increase the participation of women, youth, and persons with disabilities in the political process and to strengthen the capacity of Sierra Leone civil society organizations to effectively monitor the electoral process.

During the 2007 presidential and legislative elections and 2008 local government elections, NDI worked with civil society, political parties, and other stakeholders to enhance the prospects for a transparent, peaceful, and free electoral process and incorporated peace-building and conflict prevention programming into its work with political parties and CSOs.

In conjunction with election authorities, NDI supported political parties by providing technical assistance during the party registration process, training parties to monitor the polls, and ensuring compliance with the Code of Conduct.

NDI provided technical and financial support to the National Election Watch (NEW), a coalition of civil society organizations, which deployed election observers to over 80 percent of polling stations for the 2007 national elections and 50 percent of polling stations for the 2008 local government elections and reported their findings through an innovative text messaging system. The Institute also conducted an international election observation program around Sierra Leone’s 2007 elections.

Prior to the July local government elections, the Institute worked to help increase women’s political skills and effective participation in the political process by training over 95 percent of female candidates contesting the elections, conducting town hall meetings focused on the value of women’s participation in politics, holding forums featuring women candidates, and working with local partners to develop and implement an intensive media campaign to advance women’s rights.

NDI conducted a coordinated orientation program for incoming MPs and legislative staff to strengthen the capacity of the Parliament of Sierra Leone to serve as a democratic and responsive legislative body. As over eighty percent of Sierra Leone’s MPs are new to parliament and public office, the program assisted MPs and staff to better understand of the role of parliament, parliamentary processes and functions, executive oversight, constituency outreach, and the principles of accountability and representation.

Funding

NDI's programming in Sierra Leone is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the UK Department for International Development (DFID).

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