General elections were held in

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

on 7 March 2018 to elect the President, Parliament and local councils.President Koroma announces election date – March 7th 2018
The Sierra Leone Telegraph, 15 February 2017 Incumbent President

Ernest Bai Koroma Ernest Bai Koroma (born 2 October 1953) is a Sierra Leonean politician who served as the fourth President of Sierra Leone from 17 September 2007 to 4 April 2018. Born and raised in Makeni in northern Sierra Leone, Koroma spent more than 24 ...

did not run for another term, as he was constitutionally ineligible, having served the maximum ten years in office. No presidential candidate received the 55% of the vote required to win in the first round, meaning a second round of voting was held on 31 March between the top two candidates, opposition leader

Julius Maada Bio Julius Maada Wonie Bio (born 12 May 1964) is a Sierra Leonean politician, and the current president of Sierra Leone since 4 April 2018. He is a retired brigadier general in the Sierra Leone Army and was the military head of state of Sierra Leo ...

of the

Sierra Leone People's Party The Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) is one of the two major political parties in Sierra Leone, along with its main political rival the All People's Congress (APC). It has been the ruling party in Sierra Leone since April 4, 2018. The SLPP d ...

and

Samura Kamara Dr Samura Mathew Wilson Kamara is a Sierra Leonean politician and economist. He was the All Peoples Congress (APC) Party's candidate for President of Sierra Leone in the 2018 election. He was the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International C ...

of the ruling

All People's Congress The All People's Congress (APC) is one of the two major political parties in Sierra Leone, the other being its main political rival the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP). The APC has been the main opposition party in Sierra Leone since 4 Ap ...

; the two were separated by under 15,000 votes in the first round. Bio was subsequently elected with 51.8% of the vote. International observers hailed the election as being "orderly, free and fair" despite the fact it was "hotly contested."

Electoral system

The

President of Sierra Leone The president of the Republic of Sierra Leone is the head of state and the head of government of Sierra Leone, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. As the head of the executive branch of the Sierra Leone government, the presi ...

is elected using a modified

two-round system The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resu ...

, with a candidate having to receive more than 55% of the vote in the first round to be elected. If this is not achieved, a run-off will be held. The 132 elected members of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

(increased from 112 in the 2012 elections) were elected from single-member constituencies by

first-past-the-post voting In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

. The remaining 14 seats are reserved for Paramount Chiefs, who are elected indirectly.

Presidential candidates

A total of 16 candidates registered to contest the elections;Sierra Leone elects new president: Profiles of top six contenders
Africa News, 21 February 2018 14 men and two women. President Koroma personally selected foreign minister

as the

candidate at the party's convention held on 15 November 2017 in the northern city of

Makeni Makeni is the largest city in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. The city is the capital of Bombali District, and is the economic center of the Northern Province. Makeni is the fifth largest city in Sierra Leone by population. The city of M ...

. The APC also selected deputy speaker of parliament

Chernor Maju Bah Chernor Ramadan Maju Bah (born April 29, 1972) also commonly known by his nickname Chericoco is Sierra Leonean lawyer and politician who is currently the leader of opposition since 2019 and previous held the position of Deputy Speaker of parliam ...

as the party's vice presidential candidate. The main opposition, the

(SLPP) selected former military Head of State, retired

Brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

as its presidential candidate at the party's national convention held on 15 November 2017 in

Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and p ...

. Bio's running mate is businessman Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh. Former Vice President

Samuel Sam-Sumana Alhaji Samuel Sidique Sam-Sumana (born April 7, 1962) is a Sierra Leonean politician who was the Vice President of Sierra Leone from September 17, 2007 to March 17, 2015. Sam-Sumana stood as the vice-presidential candidate of the All People's C ...

is the candidate of the Coalition for Change. His removal from office by President Koroma was challenged at the ECOWAS Court, which in November 2017 ruled that the removal of Sumana was illegal. Former United Nations senior official

Kandeh Yumkella Alhaji Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella (born July 5, 1959) is a Sierra Leonean agricultural economist, politician, and the former United Nations Under-Secretary-General and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy ...

was chosen to be the presidential candidate of the National Grand Coalition (NGC), a breakaway faction of the SLPP. Yumkella's running mate is

mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...

Andrew Keillie. The newly formed Unity Party is fielding

Femi Claudius Cole Femi Claudius Cole (born 1962) is a Sierra Leonean politician. In 2016 she founded the Unity Party, making her the first Sierra Leonean woman to form a political party. In 2018, she was the first woman to run for the office of President of Sierra ...

, one of two female presidential candidates. Former Minister of Internal Affairs and Minister of Lands Musa Tarawally was nominated as the presidential candidate of the Citizens Democratic Party.

Controversy

Due to the fact that the election falls outside of the five-year term plus three months limit, constitutional lawyers have criticised the announcement.

Dual citizenship

The previously dormant issue of dual citizenship was raised during the election. The ruling party, APC, raised the issue citing Section 76(1) of the 1991 Constitution, which states that ''“No person shall be qualified for election as a Member of Parliament — if he is a naturalised citizen of Sierra Leone or is a citizen of a country other than Sierra Leone having become such a citizen voluntarily or is under a declaration of allegiance to such a country.”'' The dual citizenship debate engulfed three presidential candidates: Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella of the National Grand Coalition (NGC), Dr. Samura Kamara of the All People's Congress (APC), and Mohamed Kamarainba Mansaray of the Alliance Democratic Party (ADP). Yumkella claimed he denounced his American citizenship in 2017, while Mansaray said he has never held any other citizenship. Two cases were brought to the Supreme Court: one filed on 5 February by an activist of the ruling All Peoples Congress party claiming that Yumkella is a ''naturalised citizen'' and therefore unqualified to contest the elections; and another filed by Charles Margai, a flag bearer for People's Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC), claiming that the APC’s standard bearer is unqualified to run for president because he is a dual citizen and did not resign his ministerial position – for which he was paid from the state’s consolidated revenue – long enough to meet the constitutional requirement. The defense of Yumkella appealed to the Supreme Court to have two of the judges removed from the case, then the matter was adjourned until 28 March (after the 7 March election) for the two new judges to study the case. The dual citizenship issue will be remembered by citizens for propagating the slang term ''two-SIM'' to describe a person with dual citizenship.

Results

The National Electoral Commission reported 3,178,663 registered voters (of which 1,654,228 were female) and a voter turnout of 2,676,549 (84.2%) across 3,300 polling centres and 11,122 polling stations.

President

By district

Parliament

A total of 795 candidates contested the parliamentary elections, of which 100 were female.

References

{{Sierra Leonean elections

2018 in Sierra Leone 2018 2018 2018 March 2018 events in Africa