The Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (EC-SL) has yesterday 15th February, 2023 commenced sensitisation on the Proportional Representation District Block System (PRDBS).
The sensitisation which targeted various groups including the Inter-Religious Council of Sierra Leone, was held at the New Brookfields Hotel in Freetown.
The aim of the sensitisation according to the EC-SL, is to give knowledge and create awareness about the District Block System that will enable stakeholders to actively participate in the process.
It can be recalled that Sierra Leone’s Supreme Court made a landmark ruling in favour of President Julius Maada Bio’s decision to change the country’s electoral system to proportional representation.
Chief Justice Desmond Babatunde Edwards in agreement with four other Justices, said that the directive of President Julius Maada Bio to the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL) to hold the 2023 national elections for ordinary Members of Parliament by the Proportional Representation system instead of Constituencies is constitutional and lawful.
The case was brought by lawyers representing the opposition APC party – J.F.K and Partners on behalf of the first Plaintiff – Abdul Kargbo MP, and the second Plaintiff – Councillor Hakiratu Maxwell-Caulker against the Attorney General and Minister of Justice as first Defendant and the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone as the second Defendant respectively.
In their ruling, the Supreme Court Justices – Desmond Babatunde Edwards (presiding), Nicholas Brown-Marke, M. Deen Tarawally, Alusine Sesay and A.I. Sesay, dismissed all claims made by the Plaintiffs’ lawyers.
