2018 Sierra Leonean general election

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Presidential election

7 March 2018 (first round) 31 March 2018 (second round)[1]

Nominee Julius Maada Bio Samura Kamara Party SLPP APC Running mate Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh Chernor Maju Bah Popular vote 1,319,406 1,227,171 Percentage 51.81% 48.19%

Results by district Bio:     80–90%      90+% Kamara:     50–60%      60–70%      80–90%      90+%

President before election Ernest Bai Koroma APC ElectedPresident Julius Maada Bio SLPP

Parliamentary election

132 of 146 seats in Parliament

Party Leader Vote % Seats +/– APC Ernest Bai Koroma 39.93 68 +1 SLPP Julius Maada Bio 38.93 49 +7 NGC Kandeh Yumkella 8.69 4 New C4C Samuel Sam-Sumana 4.80 8 New Independents – 3.97 3 +3 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Results by constituency

General elections were held inSierra Leone on 7 March 2018 to elect the President, Parliament and local councils.^[2] Incumbent PresidentErnest Bai Koroma did not run for another term, as he was constitutionally ineligible, having served the maximum ten years in office.

No presidential candidate received the 55% of the vote required to win in the first round, meaning a second round of voting was held on 31 March between the top two candidates, opposition leaderJulius Maada Bio of theSierra Leone People's Party andSamura Kamara of the rulingAll People's Congress; the two were separated by under 15,000 votes in the first round. Bio was subsequently elected with 51.8% of the vote. International observers hailed the election as being "orderly, free and fair" despite the fact it was "hotly contested."^[3][4]

ThePresident of Sierra Leone is elected using a modifiedtwo-round system, with a candidate having to receive more than 55% of the vote in the first round to be elected.^[5] If this is not achieved, a run-off will be held.

The 132 elected members ofParliament (increased from 112 in the2012 elections) were elected from single-member constituencies byfirst-past-the-post voting.^[6][7] The remaining 14 seats are reserved for Paramount Chiefs, who are elected indirectly.^[8]

A total of 16 candidates registered to contest the elections;^[9] 14 men and two women.^[10]

President Koroma personally selected foreign ministerSamura Kamara as theAll People's Congress candidate at the party's convention held on 15 November 2017 in the northern city ofMakeni. The APC also selected deputy speaker of parliamentChernor Maju Bah as the party's vice presidential candidate.

The main opposition, theSierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) selected former military Head of State, retiredBrigadier generalJulius Maada Bio as its presidential candidate at the party's national convention held on 15 November 2017 inFreetown. Bio's running mate was businessman Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh.

Former Vice PresidentSamuel Sam-Sumana is the candidate of the Coalition for Change. His removal from office by President Koroma was challenged at theECOWAS Court, which in November 2017 ruled that the removal of Sumana was illegal.^[11]

Former United Nations senior officialKandeh Yumkella was chosen to be the presidential candidate of the National Grand Coalition (NGC), a breakaway faction of the SLPP. Yumkella's running mate ismechanical engineer Andrew Keillie.

The newly formed Unity Party is fieldingFemi Claudius Cole, one of two female presidential candidates.^[12]

Former Minister of Internal Affairs and Minister of Lands Musa Tarawally was nominated as the presidential candidate of the Citizens Democratic Party.^[9]

Due to the fact that the election falls outside of the five-year term plus three months limit, constitutional lawyers have criticised the announcement.^[2]

The previously dormant issue of dual citizenship was raised during the election. The ruling party, APC, raised the issue citing Section 76(1) of the 1991 Constitution, which states that"No person shall be qualified for election as a Member of Parliament — if he is a naturalised citizen of Sierra Leone or is a citizen of a country other than Sierra Leone having become such a citizen voluntarily or is under a declaration of allegiance to such a country."^[13] The dual citizenship debate engulfed three presidential candidates: Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella of the National Grand Coalition (NGC), Samura Kamara of the All People's Congress (APC), and Mohamed Kamarainba Mansaray of the Alliance Democratic Party (ADP). Yumkella claimed he denounced his American citizenship in 2017, while Mansaray said he has never held any other citizenship.^[14] Two cases were brought to the Supreme Court: one filed on 5 February by an activist of the ruling All Peoples Congress party claiming that Yumkella is anaturalised citizen and therefore unqualified to contest the elections; and another filed by Charles Margai, a flag bearer for People's Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC), claiming that the APC’s standard bearer is unqualified to run for president because he is a dual citizen and did not resign his ministerial position – for which he was paid from the state’s consolidated revenue – long enough to meet the constitutional requirement.^[15] The defense of Yumkella appealed to the Supreme Court to have two of the judges removed from the case, then the matter was adjourned until 28 March (after the 7 March election) for the two new judges to study the case.^[16] The dual citizenship issue will be remembered by citizens for propagating the slang termtwo-SIM to describe a person with dual citizenship.

The National Electoral Commission reported 3,178,663 registered voters (of which 1,654,228 were female) and a voter turnout of 2,676,549 (84.2%) across 3,300 polling centres and 11,122 polling stations.^[17]

A total of 795 candidates contested the parliamentary elections, of whom 100 were female.^[17]

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	All People's Congress	989,431	39.93	68	+1
	Sierra Leone People's Party	964,659	38.93	49	+7
	National Grand Coalition	215,315	8.69	4	New
	Coalition for Change	119,006	4.80	8	New
	Citizens Democratic Party	31,589	1.27	0	0
	Alliance Democratic Party	19,849	0.80	0	New
	People's Movement for Democratic Change	19,053	0.77	0	0
	National Progressive Democrats	5,173	0.21	0	New
	Unity Party	3,715	0.15	0	New
	National Democratic Alliance	3,534	0.14	0	0
	People's Democratic Party	2,428	0.10	0	0
	Peace and Liberation Party	2,278	0.09	0	0
	United Democratic Movement	1,645	0.07	0	0
	Republic National Independent Party	678	0.03	0	New
	United National People's Party	620	0.03	0	0
	Revolutionary United Front	438	0.02	0	0
	National Unity and Reconciliation Party	165	0.01	0	New
	Independents	98,439	3.97	3	+3
Paramount chiefs				14	+2
Total		2,478,015	100.00	146	+14
Registered voters/turnout		3,178,663	–
Source:EEAS,NECSL

• 2018 elections in Africa
• 2018 in Sierra Leone
• Presidential elections in Sierra Leone
• Elections in Sierra Leone
• March 2018 in Africa
• Julius Maada Bio

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