By Ralph Sesay
The Government of President Bio has pledged to look into the recommendations of the European Union Observation Mission Report for the 2018 elections before the commencement of the 2023 Parliamentary and Presidential elections.
This commitment was made by the country’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Alie Kabba, while receiving the EU/OM report on behalf of the Government and people of Sierra Leone.
It could be recalled that, the EU/OM had deployed long and short term observers to the country to monitor pre and post elections activities.
Their final report, produced three months after the March elections and presented to the government on 11 June, 2018 had catalogued a number of recommendations for the government to look at with a view to improve the conduct of elections in the country. The recommendations range from issues surrounding the legal and regulatory frame work, regional and International commitments, electoral administration, the participation of vulnerable groups in the process and the role of civil society and the media amongst others .
The EU/OM has presented 29 recommendations, and 25 are considered to require changes of primary legislation, while 9 of these would also involve changes in the country’s constitution.
According to local officials of the EU/OM team, all the recommendations were based on extensive consultations with a broad range of stakeholders before and after the elections.
The recommendations include, consideration towards holding regular Presidential elections in conjunction with Parliamentary elections on a fixed basis to avoid the unnecessary extensions of the presidential mandate.
They also noted that, In order to strengthen its independence and institutional capacity, the NEC should be provided with sufficient financial resources in a timely manner. To avoid shortages in election years, the funding could be distributed throughout the electoral cycle.
Other notable recommendations by the Observer Mission include, revisiting the conflict in the legal framework governing the registration of voters and further clarifying which institution should be in charge of the voter register considering the fact that the country had the National Civil Registration Authority and the National Electoral Commission both conducting separate registration of citizens. The terms of interaction, the EU/OM team went on, between the institutions responsible for the civil register and the register of voters should be clearly defined. A permanent, free of charge, and constantly updated civil register, which would be a basis for the register of voters, could be in the long run a more cost-effective and sustainable alternative to the current practice of conducting a fresh voter registration exercise before each election.
Other recommendations made by the team also include, consideration towards removing the constitutional requirement for candidates to resign from public office 12 months before Presidential and Parliamentary Elections, or providing for temporary suspension of employment to further encourage participation. There should be a better definition of the term “public office” in the Constitutional provisions clearly indicating specific public-service positions (such as police and/or armed forces) which are precluded from being elected. Increased transparency, the effective auditing (and publication) of the income and expenditure of parties and candidates should also be enforced. Several routes to this, the report concludes, could also include a panel of independent auditors to be appointed in advance and/or to give the Anti-Corruption Commission a mandate to cover campaign finances.
On the issue of the low women representation in elections, they recommended that, consideration be given to a legislative mechanism for increasing the number of women in Parliament and Local councils. This needs to avoid the pitfalls of female candidates being placed in unwinnable seats. A potential solution is to have a (temporary) quota per district rather than nationally, and also to encourage political parties to open up internal candidate nomination procedures. Other means of tackling this issue may involve working with CSOs on promoting women in politics; have communication strategies specifically on women and participation in politics as a fundamental right, and promoting women’s participation during all stages of the electoral process.
It is a popular view that, subsequent governments in the country have not been able to follow up on election observation mission report recommendations leading to the effective and efficient management of elections, especially so, when most of these recommendations have always provided undue advantage for the ruling parties against opposition parties.
Since the elections ended in March both national and international organizations have continued to present a number of recommendations to government for implementation.
Albert Massaquoi, Head of Outreach and Communication, at the country’s National Electoral Commission, noted in one of such presentations that, almost all the reports submitted so far on the conduct of the March polls had vindicated the commission of any wrong doing.
He concluded by reassuring the public that they are studying these reports with a view to note the issues raised before they could finally produce their own report.