Issue #115: Sierra Leone Goes to the Polls

The Nation has emerged as a successful but divided democracy

Today, June 24th, voters in the west-African nation of Sierra Leone go to the polls to elect a President and parliament. In a country once-marred by dictatorship and civil war, the nation has seen its democracy hold steady for the last twenty years. This is despite ethnic rivalries and geographic disparities that have led to the nation being very polarized on a North-South axis.

The Saturday Presidential Contest is very likely to require a runoff, with a candidate needing 55% (you read that right) to win in the first round.

I am currently in the research phase for a major deep dive into Sierra Leone’s history. I intend for that to coincide with the runoff election in a few weeks. If a runoff is not needed, the timeline for the article remains.

Today, I want to offer a quick rundown of Sierra Leone and this election and the history of the nation that shapes its modern politics.

I have been trying to do deep dives into smaller and often-ignored democracies in the world. A few of my recent articles can be seen below

• Bermuda Article - Examining how the nation went from an invisible apartheid under British rule to a vibrant Democracy

• Malawi Article - This young and overlooked African nation had a recent election voided by the court and a successful re-run, which saw the longtime opposition win the Presidency.

• Liberia Article - The nation has emerged from its brutal dictatorship moved into a democratic tradition. I looked at the 2017 contest and its first peaceful transfer of power.

I intend to add a very in-depth article on Sierra Leone to this mix. In the meantime, here is a “short” rundown.

Demographics

The area we now know as Sierra Leone is home to many native tribes of people. By far the largest groups in the nation are the Temne and Mende peoples, who trace their lineage back thousands of years.

The Temne make up around 35% of the nation’s population while Mende make up 32%. The nation as a whole is 79% Muslim vs 20% Christian. Most of the largest ethnic groups are Majority Muslim, with the Temne being over 85% and 70% for the Mende. The south is generally less Muslim, which corresponds with neighboring Liberia being a majority-Christian nation. That said, religious division is not especially strong in the nation; which is actually hailed for its religious tolerance. Both major faiths still have localized practices that date back to tribal rituals.

Divisions within the nation between ethnic groups has revolved much more around the legacy of British rule and general ethnic battles for resources.

History

Like many coastal African nations, the region was transformed by the arrival of European explorers. In this case, it was Portuguese traders that initially arrived as they worked to go around the horn of Africa to get to India. Slave traders set up posts in the area, often buying slaves that originated from inter-tribal warfare further in the interior.

In the late 1700s, the area of Sierra Leone and Liberia became a the site for abolitions who sought to return freed slaves to the African continent. The first effort as a settlement for freed slaves came in Granville Town in 1787 via British efforts. This initial arrival of some 400 settlers were largely London’s poor black population; largely made up of freed slaves. However, after attacks from the Temne chief, this settlement failed. The survivors and additional settlers would set up the the city of Freetown. The Peninsula the coastal settlement was set up on was known as the Freetown Peninsula.

The settlement would grow in size as several settlers arrived in the region. This included freed slaves who fought for the British in the American Revolution, slaves freed after the British captured Spanish and Portuguese slaver ships, and slaves who’d overthrown their captives in Jamaica. The Freetown population became known as the Krio. In 1808, Great Britain would declare the peninsula a Crown Colony.

The Freetown settlement would grow and evolve. The Krio people grew in prestige as they became trading middle-men for the British and the tribes inland. Many, if not most, Krio considered themselves British, seeing the crown as their saviors from slavery. They Krio, like re-settlers in Liberia, would develop a paternalistic and racist attitude toward the “uncivilized” local tribes. Krio people would become the first doctors and lawyers in the area, and often were a large part of government, even though the Crown held direct rule.

Krio power drastically weakened in the late 1800s when the Scramble for Africa led to the British asserting a much larger claim in the area. Sierra Leone and Liberia became part of a much larger holding.

With this change, the British Crown established the Protectorate of Sierra Leone, which made up everything outside of the Colony.

Since the inland had a vast majority of the population, power and attention shifted further inland. With the 1900s came greater British direct rule over the area, which sidelined Krio leaders in favor of direct negotiations with the leaders of the native tribes.

Tribal power would come to dominate early colony politics. The British fed tribal disputes by pitting them against each-other for resources and by allowing/encouraging teachings that amounted to “our tribe is better than that other tribe.” The early government structure in the protectorate also gave the Chiefs of these tribes immense power; making them basically kings of their region. The British took the lose notions of tribal land and codified and tied it to resources and influence; exacerbating tribal tensions.

Independence would come to the area in 1961, which was was a largely peaceful affair. However, the legacy of British rule sowed division within the nation that would dominate much of its politics.

Early Divides and Dictatorship

Much of the pre-independence political debate centered on Krio people aiming to preserve the power they once had vs the inland protectorate working to assert its power. Krio would continue to be a dominant force in political live due to their much higher rate of education; and hence were a major part of the civil service of the area, but voting power was instantly more in the favor of the various tribes of the interior. However, once it was clear the interior would dominate politics, the nation divided on tribal lines.

The biggest developments here were the formation of the two parties that would be ever-present in Sierra Leone politics. In 1951, the Sierra Leone People's Party was formed. This organization initially had the goal of uniting the protectorate and the colony. Other smaller parties that emerged in the 1950s to challenge the SLPP did not last (and I will go over this in more detail in my upcoming article). The nations first Prime Minister, Milton Margai, was one of the founders of the party. Milton was part of the Mende tribe.

In 1960, fellow SLPP founder Siaka Stevens broke away from the SLPP and formed the All People’s Congress Party. Steven’s formed the party to be a more worker populist party, in contract the SLPP’s reliance on tribal chiefs for support. Stevens, who was part of the Limba tribe in the north, also captured northern frustrations with the south’s dominant role in politics.

That southern domination stemmed from British rule; as they found dealing with southern tribes easier, had easier ability to build rail lines and infrastructure there, and Christian missionaries spent more time there. As a result, the southern half of the nation got more resources and power, and this built up a divide between the two halves.

By the 1962 Elections, the first since independence, the APC was strongest in the North and SLPP strongest in the south and Freetown. I am working to confirm district data (and will ideally have it for my final article), but here are some key points

• SLPP won the election with 42 seats the APCs 16

• 12/16 APC seats came from North, 4/12 from Freetown

• SLP took ALL 28 southern seats, 8 Freetown seats, and just 6 northern seats

Note this includes independent candidates that sided with the SLPP. The geographic gap is clear. But while the SLPP was dominant in politics at the start, the APC would build support. This was sped up when PM Milton died, and his brother, Albert took over as the 2nd Prime Minister.

Albert Margai was not as good of a politician as his brother, and struggled in his tenure. As the 1967 elections approached, he resorted to authoritarian efforts to rig the vote to ensure an SLPP win. However, the APC would end up taking a narrow victory in the contest. Stevens was named Prime Minister, but hours into his rule, was overthrown in a coup. However, he would soon be returned to power after a 2nd coup, leading to him finally assuming control of the nation.

But the damage to institutional norms already left a mark.

Once re-installed as Prime Minister, Stevens aimed to consolidate his rule. This unfortunately meant an end of Democracy in the nation. As the government cracked down in opposition with violence and arrests, party politics came to a halt. Elections in the 1970s were rigged and suppressed, and the nation eventually voted to become a one-party state in a rigged 1978 vote.

The dictatorship would last until the 1990s; overlapping with the Sierra Leone Civil War. The war lasted just over a decade and nearly destroyed the nation. It featured a 1991 referendum to bring back multi-party elections, a coup that followed, and rebels rising up. I will be delving deep into this in my future article, but a good rundown can be watched below.

Despite years of struggle and tens of thousands of deaths, the nation was able to successfully emerge from conflict with international aid, and democratic elections were brought back in 1996.

That year, the SLPP returned to power with Ahmad Tejan Kabbah being elected President and the SLPP securing a plurality of seats in Parliament. A 1997 coup overthrew Kabbah, but he was re-installed by Nigerian-led ECOWAS forces. By the early 2000s, Sierra Leone was on a firm Democratic track, though rebuilding continues from the damage of the war.

Recent Elections

In 2007, Kabbah, who’d secured re-election in 2012 with 70% of the vote, was termed out of office. The 2007 election marked a major milestone as Ernest Bai Koroma, who lost to Kabbah in 2002, won the Presidency for the rival APC. This peaceful transfer of power was critical movement for the nation. In the race, Koroma defeated Solomon Berewa, who was Kabbah’s Vice President.

The election was considered a major success and a turning point in the nation. No coups or attempts to retain one party in power took place. The clear regional divide, with the APC strong in the North and SLPP strong in the south, continued onward.

In 2012, Koroma secured 58% in the first round, avoiding the need for a runoff election. He defeated Julius Bio by a comfortable margin, getting better showings in the south than last time.

In a continuation of Sierra Leone’s democratic trends, the 2018 Presidential election saw Bio win the election, flipping control back to the SLPP. He defeated Samura Kamara of the APC, who was the Minster of Foreign Affairs until 2017.

Each election has seen the same geographic divide, but the pushes for coups and crackdowns are not there. It was also notable in that the APC won the most seats in the parliament, a notable deviation as in recent years the same party won the Presidency and Parliament.

This is not to say there are not issues in Sierra Leone regarding election violence. However, the nation has had a strong 20 years of elections now, which is farther than the young nation got in the 1950s-1960s.

2023 Election

Today, voters go to the polls while dealing with many of the day-to-day issues many nations are facing. Sierra Leone, however, is also dealing with still recovering from its civil war, with funding limited. The nation still struggles to provide basic services, and voters have shown frustration with all parties involved. Bio is running for re-election and faces Kamara again, but if no one gets 55%, a runoff will happen.

Several other candidates are running, but Kamara and Bio dominate coverage and attention. Parliament also will be elected under a revised system, moving from first-past-the-post to proportional representation. I intend to talk much more about parliament in my upcoming deep dive.

I will be watching the votes come in and be updating items on twitter. Head over there to keep up on events.