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The Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL) has made a publication of the numbers of parliamentary and local council seats to be contested for in the June 2023 general elections.
The Commission made the publication in order for the public to be au fait with the Proportional Representation (PR) District Block System which will be used in this year’s elections.
The ECSL stated that a total of 135 parliamentary seats will be up for grabs across all regions and districts in the country.
The Commission also listed that there will 493 Councillor and 22 Mayors/Chairpersons seats to contest for in June this year.
A breakdown of parliamentary seats by district highlights that Western Area Urban has the highest seats with 16 seats with Bo and Kenema second with 12 seats each. Western Area Rural, Kailahun, Kono, Port Loko and Tonkolili Districts each has 10 seats to contest for in Parliament. The Commission furthered that Bombali District will have 8 seats in the House. Both Pujehun will have 7 seats while Moyamba and Kambia will take 6 seats each.
The ECSL stated that Karene and Bonthe will have 5 seats each with the least seats be apportioned to Falaba (4).
The Commission also continued that there will 493 Local Council seats up for grabs in this year’s election with the highest being Freetown City Council with 40 seats.
Amazingly Kailahun District will have 29 seats to be contested for while Bonthe ranks bottom with just 11 seats.
The ECSL also states that there will be mayoral seats up for grabs in cities across the country. They added that there will also be a chairperson seat in each district.
The PR system was okayed by the Supreme Court late last month after members of the opposition raised concerns over it legitimacy.
This system was adopted by the ECSL based on the recent Housing and Population census conducted by Statistics Sierra Leone.
