Press Statement For Immediate Release
On Thursday 17 November, 2022, the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL), published what it calls ‘Voters Registration Analysis’, associating figures to districts and regions. In that same 17 November publication, ECSL informed the public about figures it claims relate to ‘New
Registration’, ‘Confirmed Registration’ and ‘Double registration’ but again only in terms of districts and regions.
It is however unclear how the ECSL arrived at the figures under those categories, particularly how the Commission arrived at deleting over 250,000 registrants on account of ‘double registration. The fact that majority of the deletions reportedly occurred in areas where the APC draws its strongest support is a cause for concern and thus; the APC would be constrained to accept these figures under the circumstances.
The public may recall that in my press statement of 10 September, 2022, following the first phase of the Voters Registration process; and in my October, 2022 follow-up letter to the Chairman of ECSL, at the end of the second phase, I urged ECSL to engender public and stakeholders’ confidence in the credibility of the electoral process by demonstrating inclusiveness, transparency and cooperation with stakeholders.
Additionally, during my personal engagements with the leadership of the Commission, I also urged ECSL to provide a breakdown of the voters’ registration by centres.
It is therefore disappointing that the ECSL has neither acknowledged nor acted upon the repeated requests I made on behalf of the main opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) and in my capacity as Leader of the Opposition in Parliament. The lack of cooperation and responsiveness is concerning. Also concerning is the fact that the ECSL similarly disregarded the protestations about the lack of clarity relating to the entire Voters Registration process made by the APC representatives in the Political Parties Liaison Committee (PPLC). In particular, the ECSL ignored our representatives’ concerns about how it (the ECSL) arrived at the huge number of over 250,000 which it says represents the number of ‘double registration’.
Regarding the district and regional tally announced by the ECSL on Thursday, compared with
registration figures of 2017, I note a considerable increase in ‘New Registrations’ in the South, East and Western Rural regions. At the same time, there is significant decrease in registrants in the Northeast, Northwest and Western Urban regions. Such dramatic demographic shifts clearly warrant inter-institutional dialogue and the willingness to provide required clarifications.
In view of the mistrust that appears to have characterised population figures emanating from the
controversial Midterm Housing and Population Census versus the School Population Census and this highly problematic voters registration exercise and in the interest of transparency and credibility of the electoral process, it would have been expedient for the ECSL to accede to the calls for the centre – by – centre analysis of the registration figures as there could be no better way to verify the accuracy of the figures we are being inundated with. The refusal by the ECSL to avail the public, the APC and other parties with the centre – based breakdown of what essentially should be public information, only subscribes to our position that the figures published may not have been the true reflection of the voter registration exercise.
Additionally, it is also my considered view that the five days allocated for the voter verification exercise as per the ECSL’s 14 November, 2022 public notice, is inadequate.
This is particularly so in the absence of a centre -by- centre breakdown of both the registration figures and the over 250,000 registrants the Commission says it has deleted. The lack of consultations on these critical actions, timelines and ECSL’s refusal to publish the registration figures by centre would suggest that our electoral commission intends to conduct such important elections without due reference to the concerns of the main opposition party.
The failure on the part of the ECSL to provide the necessary access to the main opposition APC and other parties to verify the figures generated for elections in Sierra Leone undermines the trust of our party in the process. Consequently, as the Leader of the APC in Parliament, and asthe Opposition Leader in Parliament, I would like to notify the ECSL that in the absence of the centre -by- centre breakdown of registration figures, including the breakdown of registrants deleted, my party would demand for an independent audit of the voter registration process and the figures that emanated from it.
Away from the registration numbers, I have been intimated about a proposal to enlarge Parliament to 135 seats and that the instruments seeking to change the electoral system from constituency based to proportional representation have been sent to Parliament.
As far as I am aware, none of these are before the House. Should they be brought before us, the APC will stand on its existing position on the PR system and will address the proposed parliamentary enlargement accordingly and in the best interest of our people and country.
Hon. Chernor R.M Bah
Leader of the Opposition in Parliament.
Monday, 21st November, 2022
