Sierra Leone is back to the Proportional Representation (PR) system 20 years after it was abandoned. Last month, just over two million people nationwide voted for their representatives in Parliament and councils. Those votes have been amassed and divided using a threshold to determine who gets a seat in parliament or council and who does not.
Now that the dust is settling on this very enthralling political season, it’s time to count the cost of the PR system on the general landscape of Sierra Leone’s democracy.
Highlights from the 2023 elections
The major highlights from this year’s election are that no political party, apart from the ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) and main opposition All Peoples Congress (APC), won seats in Parliament. Twelve seats from Coalition for Change and National Grand Coalition (NGC) were all lost to the two major parties. Three independent seats were also won by SLPP, given that all three of the candidates joined SLPP before the election.
Out of 135 seats, 81 went to SLPP and 54 to APC, but women also won big. Forty-one women from both political parties won seats, and their scores took women’s representation to 28%, a 15% increase from the last Parliament.
The long road to the PR System
The road to get here has not been smooth. Over eight months ago, when the President announced in a statement that the country would be going back to the PR system, it provoked a lot of debate. Those debates provoked controversy and saw the case against the PR system decided at the Supreme Court.
The system brought many pros and cons for the country’s democracy. In the aftermath of the election, political parties are counting the cost of participating in this political system.
11.9%: A threshold or a roadblock?
Former leader of the National Grand Coalition in Parliament, Dr Kandeh Yumkella, who lost his seat in this year’s election, rued the “disadvantages of the PR system” for smaller parties.
In a tweet, just a day after the announcement of Parliamentary results was done, he said the 11.9% threshold was too high for most political parties.
“The final results released by the @ECsalone (ECSL) show that the PR threshold posed significant limitations on the political opportunities available to smaller parties…” he said.
Dr Yumkella’s party lost all four parliamentary seats and only won two local council seats out of twenty-three in Kambia district, a stronghold for his party in 2018.
The threshold to get a seat in Parliament or Local council was set by ECSL. The electoral body used a formula to announce the threshold of parliamentary and local council seats. For MPs, the threshold is 11.9% of the total votes in a district; for Councilors, political parties or independent candidates will need 4.5% of the votes to get a seat.
In an ECSL voter education manual, the formula used to calculate the 11.9% for MPs was; 16 districts divided by 135 Parliamentary seats multiplied by 100 = 11.85%, which was then rounded up to 11.9%.
For local councils, a similar formula was applied with a slight variation; instead of adding the total of districts in the equation, the number of local councils across the country was used then, which is 22.
Hence the formula to get a seat as a councillor was 22 local councils divided by 493 councillor seats x 100 = 4.46% which was then rounded up to 4.5%.
The problems Dr Yumkella highlighted are not new. Some democracy activists have long ago been raising the alarm about the consequences it could have on participation in the country’s fledgling democracy.
Executive Director for Campaign for Good Governance Marcella Samba told DUBAWA that the system should bridge the societal gap and promote inclusivity. However, the PR system has fallen short of both standards.
She said: “PR systems worldwide are known for bridging the gap and promoting inclusivity. It allows minority parties and independent candidates a better chance of gaining seats in Parliament; it allows their supporters to feel that their interests are represented in law-making and decisions in the country.”
Madam Samba said the failure had been down to the fact that the reintroduction of the PR system was poorly conceptualised before the government announced it. She added that the threshold must be reviewed because it is one of the highest thresholds in the world.
“Unfortunately, the current PR system has failed to meet these merits because it was poorly conceptualised, with inadequate time to examine the contextual realities, build consensus, and adopt a system that will strengthen our fledgling democracy and support peacebuilding efforts. A major downside that needs urgent rethinking is that the Party List PR system adopted in SL has one of the world’s highest (11.9%) thresholds. This has seriously affected multiparty democracy and denied independent candidates and growing parties the space for representation. It must be recalled that these were issues flagged earlier, warning about the downside and that such a PR system will result in a two-party democracy, but the calls went unheeded,” she added.
Women are the winners
The biggest winners under the PR system so far are women. The number of women in Parliament has doubled since the last election from 18 to 41. This now means that the 6th Parliament will see the largest female caucus in the country’s history.
However, this still falls short of the 30% quota that the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment law passed last year mandated.
The drastic increment of women in Parliament can be credited to the amendment made in the Public Election Act of 2022. Section 58 (2) of the law states that “For every three candidates nominated under subsection (1), one of them shall be female.”
This meant that political parties had no choice but to ensure they followed the law to the latter. But this only applied to Parliamentary elections.
President of the female empowerment group – 50/50, Dr Fredeline McCormack, said the drastic increase of women in Parliament provides an opportunity for more women to push through progressive policies for women in the country.
“As the 50/50 group, we are pleased to see that the number of women has gone up in Parliament. Because we believe that the more women we have in Parliament, the more likely they can work together to ensure that they pass policies and laws that will promote the socio-economic and political development of women and the whole country as a whole.”
Dr McCormack said this gain now has to go further: “We also have to work and make sure that we don’t just get a high number of women in Parliament, but we also make sure we get women appointed to cabinet and other positions. We hope to see the 30% reflected in governance. We are happy to work with political parties to identify competent women for these opportunities.”
Post-election will now test President Bio’s courage regarding whether he will follow his law and appoint 30% of women in his cabinet. His new cabinet appointments so far indicate that he is willing to follow his 30% women quota.
Despite the gains made at the legislature, there is still work to be done at the local council level. Only three women are either Chairperson/Mayors from the 22 local councils in the country.
“At the local council level, women are only leaders in three out of the 22 councils. We need to ensure that at the local council level, political parties also nominate at least 30% women. To do that, we need to change the laws and lean on authorities to put pressure. They also need to ensure they nominate women for winnable seats because nomination and election (to office) are unequal,” Dr McCormack said.
The elephant in the room
There is a real possibility that all these gains could be washed down the drain. In the aftermath of the election, the APC has continued to dispute the result. The party has refused to go to court, citing state capture. However, it has resorted to ordering all its members across every level of government not to participate in governance for the next five years.
Sixteen of the 41 women elected to Parliament are members of the APC. APC also controls 10 out of the 22 local councils. The consequences of a boycott could be grave.
On the eve of the Parliament reopening, US Ambassador, David Reimer, appealed to the opposition to rethink their decision. On its official Twitter handle, the US Embassy in Freetown said: “I urge the APC not to boycott the government. A vibrant democracy needs a strong opposition; those who voted for the opposition need to have their voices heard.”
Ambassador Reimer’s call fell on deaf ears because 53 of the 54 APC MPs did not show up on Thursday to be sworn in as members of the 6th Parliament.
The Member of Parliament who defied his party is Hon. Mohamed Bangura from Karene. He has been hailed as a hero by SLPP supporters, while supporters of his party have labelled him as a traitor.
Hon. Bangura himself has said he is ready for anything.
It is not quite clear yet how Parliament, and the 22 local councils, some of which are APC-led councils, will work. There is a possibility of gridlock across government, which could prevent some government programs. There are backdoor negotiations ongoing, but there is no telling if there will be any agreement.
Civil society activist Marcella Samba said dialogue is needed to resolve the impasse.
“I think creating spaces for dialogue is one of the foremost tools that strengthen democracy. All political players must be open to such platforms for the benefit of peace and progress,” she said.
Among several demands, the opposition APC wants a fresh election in 6 months, according to the publishing of disaggregated election results by ECSL and the resignation of the Chief Justice, Security Chief and the Inspector General of Police.
Despite the APC’s strong opposition towards the PR system, all their problems are not necessarily related to the political system.
It is too early to tell whether Sierra Leone will keep the PR system this time. For now, the cost has been high for some. While some can afford it, others cannot and still count their losses.
