-Mayor Aki-Sawyyer Urges
Sierra Leone’s Constitutional Amendment Bill at the time of publication will soon be voted on by parliamentarians.
According to Her Worship the Mayor of the Freetown City Council, Aki-Sawyyer she said: ‘‘MPs Reject the PR System.’’
Public opinion, through the positions of civil society, the Labour Congress, religious leaders and traditional rulers, clearly favour the First Past The Post (FPTP) electoral system which will ensure that all communities at both ward and constituency levels are able to choose, engage and hold accountable their own representatives in Local Councils and in Parliament.
Contrary to the argument made for the Proportional Representation (PR) electoral system, the SLPP government used in the 2023 general elections resulted in a reduction in the representation of political parties and independent Members of Parliament (MPs) in Parliament; dropping from 4 political parties and 3 independent MPs under the FPTP 2018 general elections to just 2 political parties and no independent MPs under the 2023 PR electoral system.
According to a civil society activist, he said the two most important clauses in the Bill are in respect of the electoral system and the threshold for winning presidential elections.
Furthermore, with regards female political participation, a 30% quota for female MPs and Councillors can be achieved under the FPTP electoral system, the PR electoral system is not required to achieve this.
In respect to the threshold for winning presidential elections, the introduction in the Bill of a minimum percentage of district votes risks creating negative incentives for expelling minority voters from certain districts, thus fuelling violence before and during elections.
A district specific element should not be added to the Presidential threshold, a concern citizen opined. ‘’The passing of the Constitutional Amendment Bill will significantly impact the future of democracy in our nation.
I urge all electoral system and retain the existing presidential threshold at 55% nationwide.
