By: Albert Baron Ansu
A latent controversy about securing a two third majority for proportional representation has been laid to rest based on an Act that was passed by the government of late former President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah that established a simple majority can be employed for district block proportional representation. Sources from within the ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party have indicated that the government is preparing to use the repealed to push through the district block proportional representation clause when the issue is introduced in parliament for legislative enactment.
The relevant provision in the 2002 amendment of the 1991 constitution reads: “In the district block representation system, the election shall be contested in each specified district by political parties for the block or number of seats in Parliament allocated to the district by or under an Act of Parliament and the political parties shall be allocated seats in Parliament by the Electoral Commission on the basis of their proportional share of the total district vote.”
The full text of the referenced constitutional amendment has been hereby reproduced on page 6.