Observing Sierra Leone's November 2012 National Elections (PDF)
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Observing Sierra Leone’s November 2012 National Elections Final Report Waging Peace. Fighting Disease. Building Hope. The Carter Center strives to relieve suffering by advancing peace and health worldwide; it seeks to prevent and resolve conflicts, enhance freedom and democracy, and protect and promote human rights worldwide. Observing Sierra Leone’s November 2012 National Elections Final Report One Copenhill 453 Freedom Parkway Atlanta, GA 30307 (404) 420-5188 Fax (404) 420-5196 www.cartercenter.org The Carter Center The Carter Center Contents Foreword ..................................2 Postelection Developments ..................41 Executive Summary .........................4 Tabulation ..............................41 Election Results ..........................43 The Carter Center in Sierra Leone.............7 Postelection Political Environment ............45 Election Observation Methodology .............8 Electoral Dispute Resolution .................46 Historical and Political Background ...........10 The Paramount Chieftaincy Elections .........52 From Parliamentary Democracy to One-Party Rule ..........................10 Conclusions and Recommendations . .54 A Brutal Civil War and the Emergence To the Government of Sierra Leone ...........54 of a Fragile Democracy .....................10 To the National Electoral Commission ........56 Postwar Elections and Reconstruction Efforts ....11 To Political Parties ........................57 Electoral Institutions and the To the Political Parties Registration Commission ..57 Framework for the Elections .................13 To the International Community .............58 Legal Framework for Elections ...............13 Appendix A: Acknowledgments . 59 Election Management ......................16 Appendix B: Observation Delegation and Electoral System and Boundary Delimitation. .17 Program Staff .............................61 Voter Registration .........................19 Appendix C: Terms and Abbreviations ........63 Pre-election Developments ..................21 Appendix D: Carter Center Statements ........64 Voter Education ..........................21 Appendix E: Deployment Plan ...............98 Candidates, Parties, and Campaigns ..........22 Campaign Finance ........................29 Appendix F: Observation Checklists ..........99 Participation of Women, Minorities, Appendix G: Letter of Invitation ............106 and Marginalized Groups ...................30 The Carter Center at a Glance ..............107 The Media ..............................32 Civil Society .............................34 Election Day ..............................36 Opening ................................37 Polling .................................37 Election-Day Ban on Vehicular Movement ......38 Closing and Counting ......................39 The Carter Center Foreword By Dr. John Stremlau consolidation. The 2012 elections were the country’s Vice President for Peace Programs third democratic elections and the first to be managed The Carter Center exclusively by the NEC since international forces intervened to end the decade-long civil conflict in ierra Leone’s successful 2012 national election 2002. To add complexity to an already admirable was another African good-news story barely undertaking, presidential, parliamentary, and local noted amid the more dramatic international S council elections were held on the same day, Nov. 17. coverage of violence in Nigeria, the Democratic Leading our observation mission was the former Republic of the Congo, and the greater Middle East. president of Zambia, Rupiah Banda, whose personal Another sordid story in 2012, culminating with experience with accepting political defeat was admi- the 50-year prison sentence given former Liberian rably utilized to help bridge the divided political President Charles Taylor for his war crimes in Sierra atmosphere that surrounded the presidential elec- Leone, was a reminder that in the 1990s horrors tions in Sierra Leone. The Carter Center’s presence there led the headlines. Mayhem in Sierra Leone so in Sierra Leone would not have been possible alarmed American journalist Robert Kaplan that he without the financial support of the U.S. Agency for famously, if erroneously, forecast a “coming anarchy” International Development and the U.K. Department that would spread among weak states in West Africa for International Development. and beyond, eventually threatening global peace In September, The Carter Center deployed eight and security. long-term observers to monitor election preparations Sierra Leoneans dispelled such dire speculation, by the electoral authorities in Freetown and around along with their other post-conflict neighbors Liberia, the country. The mission surged in November, with Cote d’Ivoire, and Guinea that together comprise an some 40 observers from 18 countries able to visit over incipient Mano River Union. Since 2010, all four 200 polling stations in 64 constituencies in all 14 weak states have none the less managed to hold cred- districts throughout the country. ible national elections and, despite recent setbacks We were fortunate to work alongside a diversity of in Guinea, are embarked on democratic develop- intergovernmental observers, from the African Union, ment. The Carter Center was the only international the Commonwealth, the Economic Community nongovernmental organization to observe the latest of West African States, and the European Union. round of national elections in all four countries. Of further reassurance to voters and as a check on In Sierra Leone we did so at the invitation of the partisan abuse was the deployment of 9,000 domestic National Electoral Commission (NEC), which was observers by the nongovernmental National Election solely responsible for organizing and conducting Watch, plus at least twice that number of party moni- national elections for the first time. tors deployed at practically all 9,000+ polling stations. Sierra Leone’s elections were remarkably Such comprehensive coverage may have contributed transparent and well-managed, including a new to the absence of formal complaints by party agents biometric system that registered a record 2.7 million on election day and the kind of violence that marred voters largely without controversy. An astonishing voting in Sierra Leone in 2007. 87.3 percent of voters turned out to exercise their Sierra Leone’s two-party system has been unusu- democratic right and cast their ballots. This success ally durable for over half a century, surviving even represents a benchmark in the country’s democratic 2 The Carter Center Observing Sierra Leone’s 2012 National Elections the bloody mayhem when warlords nearly destroyed the importance of achieving peaceful elections in the state and terrorized the people in the 1990s.The Sierra Leone and its neighbors must not be forgotten. victorious All People’s Congress was formed in 1962, These predominantly local efforts to consolidate an offshoot of the older Sierra Leone People’s Party, democracy in West Africa also deserve substantial which was founded in 1951 and has often held power. sustained international engagement and support, While the two parties have regional strongholds, with for history shows that violent conflict in one Mano the APC predominant in the northern districts and River Union country can quickly infect the others. SLPP across the south, Sierra Leone has not been Democratic institutions in all four countries are afflicted by ethnic or religious conflict, with exem- fragile and will face many daunting challenges as plary amity between Christians and Muslims. The they struggle to build politically capable states. In World Bank now estimates Sierra Leone’s economy the aftermath of this string of successful national will grow by 25 percent next year, albeit from a very elections, there is an unprecedented opportunity to low base, thanks to skyrocketing iron-ore exports. advance cooperation among the four Mano River While conflict and economic uncertainty threaten Union countries to address common and shared prob- stability in many other countries around the world, lems to benefit all. 3 The Carter Center Executive Summary ierra Leone held presidential, parliamentary, Although the number of registered voters only saw a and local government elections on Nov. 17, slight overall increase, there was a decrease in regis- S2012. The presidential elections were the third tered voters in the historically Sierra Leone People’s to take place since the end of the devastating decade- Party-dominated Eastern region and an increase in long war in Sierra Leone and the first elections that registration figures in the historically All People’s were fully self-administered. Self-administration rep- Congress-dominated Northern region and Western resented a significant step for the country in its transi- Area region, which includes the heavily populated tion toward a functioning Freetown. Although post-conflict democracy. the registration process The Center found the increased confidence among process to be generally stakeholders in the integrity orderly and transparent of the voter roll, further and in general accordance The Center found the process to be consideration should be with Sierra Leone’s 2012 generally orderly and transparent and in given to the sustainability electoral legal framework general accordance with Sierra Leone’s and cost of the system. and obligations for demo- 2012 electoral legal framework and In spite of concerns cratic elections. While the obligations for democratic elections.