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 26 and 27 February 1996 to elect the

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: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

and members of

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 ...

, with a second round of the presidential election on 15 March. They were the first elections since multi-party democracy had been reintroduced following a referendum on a new constitution in 1991, and the first multi-party elections held in the country since

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

. The presidential elections were won by

Ahmed Tejan Kabbah Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah (16 February 1932 – 13 March 2014) was a Sierra Leonean politician who served twice as the 3rd President of Sierra Leone, from 1996 to 1997 and again from 1998 to 2007. An economist and attorney by profession, Kabb ...

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 4 April 2018. The SLPP d ...

(SLPP), who defeated

John Karefa-Smart John Albert Musselman Karefa-Smart (17 June 1915 – 26 August 2010) was a Sierra Leonean politician, medical doctor and university professor. He served as the first Foreign Minister under Sierra Leone's first Prime Minister, Sir Milton Marga ...

of the

United National People's Party The United National People's Party is a political party in Sierra Leone. In 1996, the UNPP received 21.6% of the votes in the parliamentary election, winning 17 of the 68 seats. UNPP candidate John Karefa-Smart finished second to current presiden ...

in the second round by 60% to 40%. In the parliamentary elections, the SLPP became the largest party for the first time in 29 years, winning 27 of the 68 elected seats, whilst the UNPP finished second with 17 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 Ap ...

, which had governed from 1968 to 1992 (from 1978 to 1991 as the only legal party), ran in a contested election for the first time in two decades. It finished fourth in the parliamentary election, whilst its presidential candidate,

Edward Turay Edward Mohamed Turay (24 October 1945 – 25 June 2023) was a Sierra Leonean politician and diplomat. He was leader of the opposition All People's Congress (APC) from 1996 to 2002. He was the Sierra Leonean High Commissioner to the United Kingdo ...

, finished a distant fifth with only 5.1 percent of the vote. The elections were characterized by violence.

Electoral system

The elections were a transitional event as the country moved to implement the 1991 constitution and move from military rule to civilian rule. The president was elected using the

two-round system The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

. The parliamentary elections were held using

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

with a single nationwide constituency with a 5% electoral threshold. Previously the country had used first-past-the-post voting for parliamentary elections. The use of proportional representation in 1996 and 2002 has been described as Sierra Leone's "brief experiment" with proportional representation.The Compelling Case for Proportional Representation (PR) Electoral System in Sierra Leone
Critique Echo, 2022

Results

President

As no candidate won more than 55% of the vote in the first round, a second round of voting was held.

Parliament

The SLPP won the most seats in the elections, but fell well short of a majority, with only 27 of the 68 elected seats.

Aftermath

On 25 May 1997 Kabbah was deposed by a coup led by Johnny Paul Koroma. However, he was returned to power by Nigerian-led ECOWAS forces on 10 March 1998.

References

{{Sierra Leonean elections Election Presidential

Elections in Sierra Leone Presidential elections in Sierra Leone Election and referendum articles with incomplete results Electoral violence