What Legislative Reforms Meant For Female Candidates In The 2023 Elections: The Successes And Lessons

Credit: Ibrahim Mansaray

Sierra Leone continues its strides towards gender equality and women’s empowerment. Actors in the age-old fight – governments, Civil Society Organisations, and other groups – have taken a wide range of actions, notably recent legislative reforms that guarantee an increased women’s participation in governance as a vehicle for closing the gender gap, and achieving equality. 

Efforts towards this direction doubled especially towards the 2023 general elections, widening up the space women have to participate in governance, while also protecting their other rights.  The landmark Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Act 2022, the Political Party Registration Act 2022, and the Public Elections Act 2022 which provide for a minimum 30% quota for women on all nominations, all turned out to be favourable pieces of legislation as far as women’s participation in politics and governance is concerned. 

In the first place, 37% of females were nominated by various political parties for Parliamentary and Local Council elections, in compliance with the provisions in the Public Elections Act 2022 and the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Act 2022.

Data by the United Nations Women in Sierra Leone obtained from the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL) shows that 41 females got elected to parliament, accounting for 30.4% of the Ordinary Members and 28.2 of the total Members of Parliament. The latter figure fell short of the minimum 30% quota but is more than twice the 12% elected in 2018.

Of the 493 councillors elected nationwide, 167 are women, accounting for 34% of the total. Laudably, Koidu city is the only city with 50% each for both elected men and women in local council, surpassing the 30% GEWE and 35% Affirmative Action Principles from the Beijing Platform for Action.

Only one female candidate could clinch a mayoral seat out of seven that were up for grabs. Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr got re-elected for a second term as mayor of Freetown, representing 14% of the total figure. Two deputy mayors from Kenema City Council and Port Loko City Council got elected, representing 29% of the total.

The lowest figure of all is that of the elected chairpersons, where women scored 13%. On the flip side, the highest figure was scored by women in the deputy chairperson elections, securing seven of the 15 seats available, accounting for 47% of the total figure.

While women fell short of the 30% benchmark in almost all the elective positions – Mayors – 14%, Deputy Mayors – 29%, Chairpersons – 13% – besides the Deputy Chairpersons – 47%, the quantum leap in women’s participation could clearly be seen. The District Bloc Proportional Representation (PR) system was referred to as a “gamechanger” for women in politics. 

 “The good news though is that Sierra Leone has made significant progress, in terms of women’s political participation and leadership despite many difficulties and some setbacks” said Setcheme Jeronime M Mongbo, head of office, UN Women, Sierra Leone who was speaking at the National Conference on Women’s Political Participation in the 2023 elections. She cautioned that eyes must be kept on the gains, so that they are not lost.

“We have seen real progress in the numbers of women elected to Local Councils, Parliament, Cabinet and other positions. We warmly congratulate all of these women” said Carol Hannon, Head of Development at the Embassy of Ireland in Sierra Leone.

However, despite the progress made so far, the challenges still exist. The absence of political will, in some cases, was largely responsible for the lower figure of elected women in some districts. For instance, the Political Party Registration Commission (PPRC) noted that some political parties fielded male candidates in their nominations and identified them as females to get their way round the 30% quota for party executives. The positioning of women on the nomination list which was not specified also gave room for parties to have placed women in positions with lesser chances of having a seat.

Enrico Sborgi, a European Union representative made the following observation:

“Political will to genuinely enhance women participation in political life was still lacking in the 2023 elections if we observe for instance the placement of women in the lists of candidates for parliamentary elections: only in one district one party list was led by a woman, while all over the country party lists were headed by a man and women were rarely placed in the second position. There was only one woman running for a parliamentary seat as an independent candidate. And among presidential candidates, only one woman contested, while five stood as presidential running mates.”

There are existing calls to tackle these issues, head-on. Women’s organisations are calling for an amendment of the loopholes in the legislations that were exploited by some political parties, to make them more women-centred.

The Minister of Gender, Dr. Isata Mahoi says she is planning to take informed actions, focusing on providing comprehensive analysis of decision-making at all levels to ascertain whether the electoral laws and policies were fully implemented and that issues of violence against women in elections were fully dealt with.