By: Mohamed Sahr
In the bid of enforcing prescribed conducts and sanctions ahead of June 24th multi-tier elections, the Political Parties Regulation Commission (PPRC) has prepared to oversee free, fair and credible elections in a press briefing held at the Youyi Building on Thursday 11th May 2023.
Abdulai Bangura, Chairman of Political Parties Regulation Commission said in order to adhere to the functionalities and the Commission’s best practices especially for the upcoming June 24th General Elections.
He said, they started off to look at the campaign modes of all political parties across the country as a way of enhancing smooth atmosphere that would not disturb public peace and would not compromise public safety as well as public morality. He mentioned that he had an overwhelming agreement with all political parties on the method of procedure that indicates the campaign patterns which would enable the people of Sierra Leone to enjoy the existing peace. “We agreed that the street possessions and parades should be banned for the elections and we developed guidelines as to how to conduct themselves,” Bangura said.
He continued that the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) and the main opposition party the All People’s Congress (APC) comported themselves substantially well in the meeting for the conduct of credible and transparent elections. Chairman Bangura commended the two big political parties for staging such fruitful events without creating upheavals in the country’s capital; adding that their illustrations clear define the right direction Sierra Leone is heading towards.
PPRC Chairman emphasized that they would strive to put down tensions that have the potential to create panic in the country as well urging politician surrogates and their supporters using social media to edit whatever they put on different platforms and equally frown against reckless and inflammatory pronouncements.
He furthered that the Commission would be meeting with critical stakeholders within the sixteen districts including district party executives, Paramount Chiefs and the Police to allow different political parties to have access to send out their messages without prejudice or hindrance. “We have the responsibility to soften the ground and we will do that throughout the course of our movement in the entire districts,” said PPRC Chairman.
Bangura affirmed that PPRC regional offices had embarked on political tolerance with political parties and critical stakeholders through the signing of communiques. He said they had deployed long-term observers within the regions in order to widening their visibility which would aid them to combat the social media menaces.
He noted that the Commission had noticed that women are not well positioned in the political space. Bangura encouraged all the political parties to consider women in a possible position which the Gender Empowerment Bill speaks widely on. He said they would ensure that the wills of the people are reflected in both the region and national offices for a democratic process; mentioning that PPRC had nominated fourteen political parties for the June 24th General Elections and declaration of assets would soon climax.