Elections and the Challenges of Democratization in Sierra Leone

Abstract

Between 1996 and 2012, Sierra Leone held four elections as part of the processes of democratization, conflict transformation, and what, in mainstream discourses, is known as democratic consolidation. The first elections took place in February and March 1996, and initiated the democratic transition that returned multiparty politics to the country after almost three decades of one-party rule under the All People’s Congress (APC) party, and a four-year military junta rule under the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC). These elections however took place within the context of an ongoing civil war and came in the wake of the unravelling of the so-called NPRC “revolution” and the people’s frustration with their failure to rein in the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel movement that was waging a brutal insurgency in the country, end the war, establish peace and stability, and revive the economy as they had promised when they overthrew the APC in April 1992, a year after the war started. These elections were, in addition to ushering in a liberal pluralistic system, also intended as a conf lict transformative strategy.