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Sierra Leone Page |
Welcome to ElectionInfo.com's pages on Sierra Leone
Official Name: Republic of Sierra Leone
Capital: Freetown
Area: 71,740 square kilometres (27,699 square miles)
Major cities (Population)
Freetown 649,000 (1990 estimate)
Bo 269,000 (1994 estimate)
Population: 4,509,000 (1995 estimate)
Population growth rate: 2.4 per cent (1990-1995 average)
Type of government: A military coup toppled the civilian government (elected in February 1996) in May 1997. The government is in transition
Independence: 27 April 1961 (from the United Kingdom)
Constitution: 1 October 1991; amended September 1991; this constitution allows for multi-party politics
Voting Rights: Universal at age 18
Government
From 1992 to 1996 Sierra Leone was governed by the military Supreme Council of State. In April 1993 the council stated that it intended to introduce multi-party democracy within three years. Political parties were legalized and on 26 and 27 February 1996 Sierra Leoneans voted for a new president and a new 80-seat parliament.
Recent History
The 1951 elections that were won by Sir Milton Margai’s Sierra Leone People’s Party marked the beginning of self-government. Independence from the United Kingdom was granted ten years later, with Margai as prime minister. After Margai’s death in 1964, his half-brother, Albert Margai, became prime minister. The opposition All People’s Congress (APC), led by Siaka Stevens, won the 1967 elections, but the army seized power. However, civilian rule was restored in 1968 with Stevens as prime minister. Following a coup attempt in 1971, the country became a republic with Stevens as president of a one-party state from 1978. He ruled until 1985, when he retired and was succeeded by Joseph Momoh. By 1990 opposition to the APC’s oppressive rule was strong and Momoh promised a return to multi-party democracy by early 1992.
In April 1992, when it became clear he was stalling, Momoh was forced from power in a coup led by Captain Valentine Strasser. In July Strasser established a military Supreme Council of State (SCS) and a Council of State Secretaries (CSS) made up of military and civilian members. Multi-party democracy was promised by 1996 but in January 1996, six weeks before elections were due to take place, Strasser was ousted in a bloodless coup. However, elections went ahead as planned and Ahmad Tejan Kabbah was elected president of Sierra Leone. One of the first tasks of the new government is to quell the rebel activity of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF)—supported by neighbouring Liberian troops—that started in 1991.
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