Transparency in Elections (SL0032)

What is the public problem that the commitment will address? 1. An Independent and professional Election Management Body that will be free from any outside interference. 2. Free, Fair, Transparent, non-violent, and credible elections that will be acceptable by all. 3. The institution to be one that will gain the confidence and trust of the public and the stakeholders that its serves.

What is the commitment? This commitment will promote the guiding principles of the Commission in a bid to promote the tenets of good democracy and governance structure in Sierra Leone. To continue to deliver elections in a credible, transparent, and accountable manner through the use of modern technology that’s meets current trends and best practices. To improve the transmission of election results through technology and making them available online in an open data format.

How will the commitment contribute to solving the public problem? The Commission will continue to promote democratic good governance through the conduct of credible elections that meets international standards and best practices. It will also address the expectations of Sierra Leoneans for conducting free, fair, transparent, and accountable elections that will be acceptable to all its stakeholders. Inclusive process. EC-SL will also focus on improving its data and result management systems, ensure electoral integrity and public acceptance of electoral outcomes; implementing enhanced systems and processes to ensure the efficient use of government and donor resources, whilst continuing its investment on staff capacity building to enhance the delivery of transparent, credible, and violence-free elections.

Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values? Access to information: This commitment will increase access to information on elections processes and hence increase transparency in the management of public elections in Sierra Leone. Technology and innovation: The transmission of elections result will be posted online on NEC website and in an open data format.

Additional information 

Milestone Activity with a verifiable deliverable Start Date: End Date: Citizens access to voters register online (hybrid system) Dec 2022 July 2024 A credible voter register produced at least six months before elections. September 2022 December 2024 Conduct integrity training for Electoral Management Bodies (EMB) on the overall management of elections Feb 2022 December 2024 Development and signing of integrity pledges by Electoral Management Body Jan 2022 Dec 2024 Establish an effective ICT infrastructure that supports the Commission’s ICT operations and Result Management Systems as provided by law Jan 2022 Dec 2024 Develop and roll out a voter education strategy Jan 2022 Dec 2024

Action Plan Review

Commitment 3. Open Elections

● Verifiable: Yes

● Does it have an open government lens? Yes

● Potential for results: Modest

[Election Conflict Prevention and Mediation Group, National Election Watch, CHDRI, Inter-Religious Council, Eminent Women, Institute for Governance Reform, Initiatives for Media Development, CARL]

Context and objectives:

This commitment aims to support the NEC’s work to deliver elections in a credible, transparent, and accountable manner. Specifically, this reform aims to strengthen government transparency through the publication of the list of registered voters, election results, and voter education materials in the lead up to the June 2023 elections.

The milestones include (1) citizen access to the voter register online (hybrid system), (2) a credible voter register produced at least six months before elections, (3) integrity training for electoral management bodies on the overall management of elections, (4) development and signing of integrity pledges by the electoral management body, (5) establishment of an effective information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure that supports the NEC’s ICT operations and results management systems as provided by law, and (6) development and rollout of a voter education strategy.

Potential for results: Modest

The commitment represents a positive incremental step to improve electoral credibility, particularly by establishing ICT infrastructure to support operations and results management. The commitment represents a new policy area in Sierra Leone’s OGP process and aims to enhance transparency in the management of public elections. It seeks to enhance the credibility, trust, and independence of the electoral management body by enhancing the capacity of voters through educating, adopting and using technology to support the commission’s operations (data and results management system), and making information available and accessible on the voter register. However, the commitment does not address more systemic challenges for Sierra Leone’s electoral system, which would require fundamental legal reforms.

In Sierra Leone, elections are a significant building block to the country’s commitment to enduring peace. ^[19] Per section 33 of the Constitution of Sierra Leone, the NEC is the sole authority with the constitutional mandate to prepare and conduct all public elections and referenda. ^[20] The president of Sierra Leone appoints all five members of the NEC to a five-year term, after consultation with all registered political parties and subject to parliament’s approval. In addition to conducting all public elections and referenda, the NEC is responsible for registering all eligible voters; preparing, maintaining, and regularly reviewing the register of voters; conducting civic electoral education demarcating constituency boundaries; and making regulations for the efficient execution of its functions. ^[21] In addition, the constitution empowers the NEC to utilise appropriate technology and adopt appropriate approaches in the performance of its functions. ^[22] Besides building public trust in the electoral process and ultimately creating a sense of legitimacy of government, this commitment aims to address the inadequacies of the existing legal framework and move Sierra Leone’s election system towards international best practices. ^[23]

In 2018, Sierra Leone held its general election, representing the fifth straight general election since return to multiparty elections in 1996 and the third since the 2002 conclusion of the country’s civil war. ^[24] It was the first election to be conducted without the supervision of a United Nations (UN) mission approved by the UN Security Council, and it was conducted with significantly lower levels of donor funding. The European Union Election Observation Mission (EOM) assessed the entire electoral process against the national legislation pertinent to elections, regional and international obligations, and commitments of Sierra Leone. They provided recommendations based on their observations. ^[25]

The EOM observed that the NEC performed its constitutional duties in a competent and impartial manner even though a late disbursement of government funding and an overcrowded electoral calendar resulted in operational challenges in the 2018 elections. Although the NEC succeeded in conducting a challenging voter registration exercise during a boundary delimitation process in 2017, the EOM noted significant discrepancies in the numbers of registered voters in the different constituencies and wards, which resulted in votes in some constituencies having more political weight than in others. ^[26] It also observed that despite recounts confirming the original results, the polling staff’s negligence and simple errors in dealing with results protocols in the first-round election led to minor irregularities discovered during tallying and subsequent numerous recounts of ballots from the affected polling stations. ^[27] It then offered twenty-nine priority recommendations, based on extensive consultations with a broad range of stakeholders, two of which aimed to rectify the conflict related to the registration of voters and strengthen the independence and institutional capacity of the NEC. ^[28]

This commitment includes feasible activities to strengthen electoral processes possible within the existing legal framework. The EOM highlighted shortcomings in the legal framework that would require changes in primary legislation and even the constitution to bring the electoral framework in line with international standards. In the absence of such changes, this commitment represents a vital and incremental step that can build towards full implementation of the EOM recommendations in the longer term. ^[29]

Opportunities, challenges and recommendations during implementation

This reform illustrates the government of Sierra Leone’s ongoing commitment to free and fair elections. However, this commitment’s potential largely rests on whether the government allocates sufficient funding for the NEC to carry out its mandate. The cultivation of a coalition for nonpartisan electoral reform across government bodies and with civil society could supplement the NEC’s financial and technical resources. Moreover, this commitment’s objective includes strengthening the NEC’s independence. In this regard, the milestone to introduce integrity training and pledges for election management staff is an important, but modest, step towards this overarching goal. Looking ahead, the NEC and partners could consider the recommendations from the National Election Watch on strengthening the NEC’s independence and implementation of credible elections: [30]

• The NEC should provide training and establish plans for police and other security bodies to ensure safe polling and registration sites and to uphold election integrity.
• The government of Sierra Leone should base political boundaries and election resource distribution on accurate and trusted population data.
• The NEC and the National Civil Registration Authority should provide well-resourced, publicised, and efficient voter registration drives, particularly in remote regions.
• The NEC should standardise and widely publicise requirements around identification documents for citizens registering to vote.
• The government of Sierra Leone should ensure fair and standardised treatment for first-time voters and individuals lacking documents.
• The government of Sierra Leone should strengthen coordination between the NEC, the National Civil Registration Authority, and Statistics Sierra Leone to facilitate efficient and accurate voter registration and documentation.

Results Report

Commitment 3. Open Elections

• Completion: Substantial
• Early results: Moderate Results

This commitment aimed to contribute towards an independent and professional election management body; free, fair, transparent and nonviolent elections accepted by all; and an election process that earns public trust. [49]

While not initially identified as activities under this commitment, the Government of Sierra Leone implemented various legal reforms in anticipation of the June 2023 general elections. Laws passed in 2022 included the Public Elections Act, [50] Political Parties Act and Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. These reforms confirmed the mandate and authority of election management bodies.

The Electoral Commission published a voter register prior to the election, but not six months before as intended (milestones 1 and 2). A provisional voters register was produced in December 2022 and exhibited nationwide. Voters could confirm their details and provide corrections. The final register was shared as hard copies in 3,630 registration centres, shared on several online platforms, [51] and shared as soft copies with political parties and posted on the ECSL website. The number of registered voters per polling centre was published on 25 May 2023, [52] and an electronic copy of the final voters list – including names and pictures – was provided to political parties on 8 June 2023 and to National Elections Watch two days before the elections. [53] The ECSL stated inconsistencies in the law and practice in the voter registration was the reason the final register was published on 25 May 2023. [54]

At the time of writing the report, there was no evidence that integrity trainings were conducted for the electoral management bodies or integrity pledges developed and signed (milestones 3 and 4). However, ECSL reported that an Ethics Unit was created, [55] and an Ethics Code of Conduct was developed by the Unit. [56]

The ECSL, with financial support from ECOWAS and in partnership with 27 CSOs, media and mobile service providers, rolled out the voter education strategy [57] (milestone 6). These included traditional methods like the use of town criers, through the Ward Electoral Education Committees, face-to-face education and in-town meetings. [58] Other methods included print, electronic and social media. [59] Voter education faced challenges around misinformation and disinformation. ECSL noted that political parties could support efforts of raising awareness on the electoral process and ECSL’s mandate. [60]

ECSL sought to establish an effective ICT infrastructure to support election results management. ECSL established national and regional tally centres (milestone 5). [61] Results were processed at the regional centres and then submitted to the district headquarters for consolidation. ECSL noted that results management were fully compliant with the law. [62] Despite efforts, domestic and international observers expressed concerns with the tabulation and transmission of results. [63]

There was consensus from domestic, [64] international [65] and African Union election observers that the election process before and during the elections was generally peaceful, transparent and credible up to the point of counting on polling day. Nevertheless, a lack of transparency in the tallying and transmission of election results and completeness of data to the level of polling station undermined public trust in the election outcome. [66] Therefore, this commitment fell short of its ambitious aims for transparent elections accepted by all and an election process that earns public trust.