Global Initiative to Enfranchise People with Disabilities: Sierra Leone

Global Initiative to Enfranchise People with Disabilities: Sierra Leone - www.electionaccess.org Text Only Version

Best Practices: IFES and other groups have implemented innovative practices around the world.

Laws and Regulations: A country-by-country analysis of election laws, constitutions and regulations, and how these affect citizens with disabilities.

Sierra Leone

General Right to Vote
Constitution:
(1991)
• Section 31 states, "Every citizen of Sierra Leone being eighteen years of age and above and of sound mind shall have the right to vote, and accordingly shall be entitled to be registered as a voter for the purposes of public elections and referenda."
• Section 36 states, "At any public elections or referenda voting shall be by secret ballot."

Exclusion Based on Mental Disability
Constitution:
(1991)
• Section 76 states: "No person shall be qualified for election as a Member of Parliament…(c) if under any law in force in Sierra Leone he is adjudged to be a lunatic or otherwise declared to be of unsound mind…"

Exclusion Based on Physical Disability
Constitution:
(1991)
• Section 75 states: "Subject to the provisions of section 76, any person who…(d) is able to speak and to read the English Language with a degree of proficiency sufficient to enable him to take an active part in the proceedings of Parliament, shall be qualified for election as such a Member of Parliament."

Voter Assistance by Other Citizens
Electoral Law:
(1995: Electoral Provisions Decree)
• Section 18, subsection (i) states: "An elector who is unable to read or who is incapacitated by blindness or any other physical disability and is unable to cast his vote in the manner prescribed in this Decree, must apply in person to the Presiding Officer who shall: (i) in the case of an elector who is physically disabled, allow the elector to be accompanied by another elector of his own choice, who must guarantee the faithful expression of the vote of the disabled person and who shall be pledged to absolute secrecy"

Voter Assistance using Adaptive Techniques
Electoral Law:
(1995: Electoral Provisions Decree)
• Section 18, subsection (ii) in the case of an elector who is unable to read or write and cannot draw a cross, inform the elector that he can vote by putting a fingerprint mark in the square corresponding to the party for which he wishes to vote after dipping his finger in the ink which shall be placed for this purpose in the voting booth."