Country profile
Sierra Leone
Republic of Sierra Leone
Africa · Sub-Saharan Africa
SL · SLE
- Capital
- Freetown
- Population
- 9,077,691
- Area
- 71,740 km²
- Democracy index
- 72
- Regime type
- Fragmented Democracy
Events
Ballots from Sierra Leone
The latest elections, referendums, and opinion polls from Sierra Leone. Community totals are not official results.
No published ballots yet
No public ballots yet
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Classification
Democracy profile
The score and regime label are assigned by Porto Voto using our in-house democracy index and classification framework, not ratings from governments or external agencies.
Democracy index
72/100
Regime type
Fragmented Democracy
Sierra Leone continues to experience the complexities of a fragile democratic transition, characterized by significant institutional tension and a persistent climate of political polarization. While the country maintains the procedural mechanisms of multi party elections and has seen peaceful transitions of power, the political landscape remains heavily influenced by regional and ethnic cleavages that frequently lead to governance friction. Recent years have been marked by concerns regarding the independence of the electoral commission, restricted space for political opposition, and occasional outbreaks of civil unrest that test the resilience of state institutions. Although civil society organizations and a burgeoning media sector continue to strive for accountability, the judiciary is often perceived as susceptible to executive influence, which complicates efforts to address systemic corruption. The current democratic environment is functional but remains hampered by a lack of institutional depth, leaving the system vulnerable to shifts in political stability and executive overreach.
Last evaluation:
How we classify regimes →World Factbook
Country background
A concise introduction to Sierra Leone, together with notes on how power and law are organized, to put local ballots in context.
Continuously populated for at least 2,500 years, the area now known as Sierra Leone is covered with dense jungle that allowed the region to remain relatively protected from invading West African empires. Traders introduced Sierra Leone to Islam, which occupies a central role in Sierra Leonean culture and history. In the 17th century, the British set up a trading post near present-day Freetown.
The trade originally involved timber and ivory but later expanded to enslaved people. In 1787, after the American Revolution, Sierra Leone became a destination for Black British loyalists from the new United States. When Britain abolished the slave trade in 1807, British ships delivered thousands of liberated Africans to Sierra Leone.
During the 19th century, the colony gradually expanded inland. In 1961, Sierra Leone became independent of the UK. Sierra Leone held free and fair elections in 1962 and 1967, but Siaka STEVENS -- Sierra Leone’s second prime minister -- quickly reverted to authoritarian tendencies, outlawing most political parties and ruling from 1967 to 1985.
In 1991, Sierra Leonean soldiers launched a civil war against STEVENS’ ruling party. The war caused tens of thousands of deaths and displaced more than 2 million people (about one third of the population). In 1998, a Nigerian-led West African coalition military force intervened, installing Tejan KABBAH -- who was originally elected in 1996 -- as prime minister.
In 2002, KABBAH officially announced the end of the war. Since 1998, Sierra Leone has conducted democratic elections dominated by the two main political parties, the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) and the All People’s Congress (APC) party. In 2018, Julius Maada BIO of the Sierra Leone People’s Party won the presidential election that saw a high voter turnout despite some allegations of voter intimidation.
BIO won again in June 2023, although irregularities were noted that called into question the integrity of the results. In October 2023, the Government of Sierra Leone and the main opposition party, the All People’s Congress, signed the Agreement for National Unity to boost cooperation between political parties and begin the process of reforming the country’s electoral system.