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 to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

on 17 March 1967. They were won by the opposition All People's Congress, marking the first time that a ruling party had lost an election in

sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

(excluding white-ruled

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...

).End of the Exception
Time, 31 March 1967 However, the APC was overthrown in a military coup hours after taking power. The party was later restored to office after a counter-coup the following year and established a long-standing dictatorship.

Background

Although the Sierra Leone People's Party had won the previous elections in 1962, it had become increasingly unpopular, in part due to Albert Margai's unsuccessful attempts to convert the country into a

one-party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a governance structure in which only a single political party controls the ruling system. In a one-party state, all opposition parties are either outlawed or en ...

, accusations of corruption, and an attempt to prevent opposition parties running against him and three other SLPP candidates. There was also an ethnic dimension to the elections; the SLPP tended to be supported by the Mende, Sherbro and Fula, whilst the APC was more popular amongst the Temne, Susu, Loko, Mandinka and Creoles. Antagonism towards the SLPP had grown due to the Margai's promotion of several Mendes to prominent positions with the country's civil service and the fact that the group were beginning to dominate the country's army.Donald L. Horowitz (1985
''Ethnic Groups in Conflict''
/ref>

Results

Aftermath

Governor-General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

Henry Josiah Lightfoot Boston swore in APC leader

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 from 1967 to 1971 and as President from 1971 to 1985. Stevens' leadership was often characterized by patrimonial ...

as the country's new

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

on 21 March. Hours later, Stevens was overthrown in a coup led by David Lansana. The army put both Stevens and Boston under house arrest on the grounds that any change of government should have awaited the election of the tribal representatives to the House of Representatives. Lansana was then removed from power on 23 March by a group led Andrew Juxon-Smith which named themselves the

National Reformation Council The National Reformation Council, or NRC, was a group of senior military officers with Brigadier Andrew Juxon-Smith as its chairman, who seized control of the Sierra Leone Government of Sierra Leone, government on March 23, 1967. They suspended the ...

. They suspended the constitution and placed Margai under arrest. On 18 April 1968 a " sergeants' revolt" was carried out by the Anti-Corruption Revolutionary Movement led by John Amadu Bangura. NRC members were imprisoned, and other army and police officers deposed. Stevens was allowed to assume the office of Prime Minister under the restored constitution.

References

{{Sierra Leonean elections Elections in Sierra Leone

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Annulled elections Election and referendum articles with incomplete results