Parliamentary 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 , Sierra ...

on 6 May 1977. They were the last multi-party elections held in the country until 1996 Sierra Leonean general election, 1996.

Background

Elections were called ahead of schedule by

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Siaka Stevens Siaka Probyn Stevens (24 August 1905 – 29 May 1988) was the leader of Sierra Leone from 1967 to 1985, serving as Prime Minister of Sierra Leone, Prime Minister from 1967 to 1971 and as President from 1971 to 1985. Stevens' leadership was ofte ...

following his declaration of a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

after student riots earlier in the year. In the election itself, only 41 of the directly elected and one of the indirectly elected

paramount chief A paramount chief is the English-language designation for the highest-level political leader in a regional or local polity or country administered politically with a chief-based system. This term is used occasionally in anthropological and arch ...

seats were contested (in the remaining 36 directly elected and 11 indirectly elected seats, the

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 Apr ...

was the only party with a candidate). In a campaign marred by violence, elections in eight constituencies were not held on the day of the election, but were contested at a later date.Sierra Leone
Inter-Parliamentary Union For the first time, there were also three presidential appointees in the

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

Results

Aftermath

The following year, a referendum approved a new constitution that made the country a

one-party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties ...

with the APC as the sole legal party. Elections were held under this system in 1982, 1985 and 1986. Another referendum in 1991 returned the country to multi-party politics, and the next pluriform elections were held in 1996.

References

{{Sierra Leonean elections Elections in Sierra Leone

1977 in Sierra Leone, Parliamentary election Sierra Leonean parliamentary election Election and referendum articles with incomplete results