The Electoral Body is the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL)
21 years of uninterrupted electoral democracy
Sierra Leone is a Constitutional Republic with a unicameral parliament and a directly elected president
This election is multi-tier, with the Presidential, Parliamentary and local council elections holding concurrently.
The president serves a maximum of two five-year Terms
There are 13 candidates for this year’s presidential electionsOne female presidential candidate
19 local councils and 16 electoral districts
146 members of parliament including 1 traditional ruler from each district.
3630 polling centres nationwide11,832 polling stations nationwide3,374,258 registered voters
Voting age is 18 Elections are dominated by 2 political parties the Sierra Leone Peoples Party SLPP and the All Peoples Congress APC
The presidential candidate of the SLPP is incumbent President Julius Maada Bio and opposition candidate Samura Kamara of the APC. Maada Bio is former military ruler.
He was a key member of the junta that took over in 1992.
He then led a palace coup in 1996, handing over power within 3 months to an elected civilian president, Ahmed Tejan Kabbah the same year.
Samura kamara served as Sierra Leone Central Bank Governor, Minister of Finance and Minister of Foreign Affairs Maada Bio is 59 while Samura Kamara is 72
The winner of the Presidential election must secure 55% of votes cast.
If no outright winner, the 2 top candidates will head to a run-off within two weeks after results is announced.
The candidate with the highest votes is declared winner.
(Source: Electoral Commission of Sierra LeoneCentre for Democratic Development, West Africa)
