AYV News May 22, 2023
Sierra Leone’s 2023 General Elections have officially commenced on Saturday 20th May, 2023, with elections for Paramount Chief Members of Parliament (PCMPs) in five districts across the country.
Past Saturday, the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (EC-SL) conducted elections for 6 candidates in Falaba, 3 in Bonthe 2 in Kambia, 2 in Pujehun and 2 in Bombali respectively for the position of Paramount Chief Members of Parliament.
The 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone, Section 74(1)(a) mandates that residents of every district in the provinces, shall elect 1 of their Paramount Chiefs to represent the district in Parliament as a Paramount Chief Member of Parliament (PCMP).
PCMPs are differently elected from the other class of Members of Parliament popularly called the Ordinary Members of Parliament (OMPs).
Hence the PCMP Elections for the next Parliament were held past Saturday whilst the OMP Elections are slated for 24th June.
Only 5 out of 14 districts got EC-SL conducting elections for PCMPs past Saturday. This is because the Paramount Chiefs in the remaining 9 districts have, by various means of consensus amongst themselves, decided to choose one of their numbers to go unopposed.
Initially, it was 7 districts (Tonkolili, Port Loko, Karene, Bo, Moyamba, Kailahun, Kono) with unopposed PCMPs but in the weekend, the EC-SL confirmed the withdrawal of all but one candidate in Kenema and Koinadugu respectively; thus, leaving only 5 districts within which EC-SL conducted elections over the weekend.
