Global Initiative to Enfranchise People with Disabilities: Sierra Leone - www.electionaccess.org
Back to Africa  
  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.     Publications  
   
   

Sierra Leone

General Right to Vote
Constitution
(1991, last amended 2008)

  • 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.”

Exclusion Based on Intellectual Disability
Constitution
(1991, last amended 2008)

  • 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 41 states, “No person shall be qualified for election as President unless he...(d) is otherwise qualified to be elected as a Member of Parliament.”
  • Section 76, subsection (1) 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”

Electoral Law
The Electoral Laws Act, 2002
(last amended 2007)

  • Section 7 states, “No person shall be registered as an elector or, having been registered as such, shall be entitled to vote at any election if he is...(b) a lunatic within the meaning of any law in force in Sierra Leone.”

Exclusion Based on Physical Disability
Constitution
(1991, last amended 2008)

  • Section 41 states, “No person shall be qualified for election as President unless he...(d) is otherwise qualified to be elected as a Member of Parliament.”
  • Section 75 states, “Subject to the provisions of section 76, any person who...(d) is able to speak and 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
Electoral Law
The Electoral Laws Act, 2002
(last amended 2007)

  • Section 65 states, “The voting at an election shall be conducted in the following manner...(i) 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 Act, must apply in person to the Presiding Officer, who shall...
  • 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;
  • 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 candidate, or as the case may be, 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.”
  • Section 65, subsection (e) states, “Every elector shall, immediately before receiving the ballot paper, submit to having his left thumb or a finger of the left hand, or right hand if an elector suffers from some physical defect, marked with indelible ink.”

Voter Manuals
Voter Education Manual
Local Government Elections 2008

  • Page 38 states, “Polling centre/station queue controllers...gives priority to aged, pregnant and disabled voters and parents with babies.”
  • Page 39 states, “Voter identification officer...does not allow two voters at the table unless one voter is disabled and being assisted.”

 
 
  Laws and Regulations: A country-by-country analysis of election laws, constitutions and regulations, and how these affect citizens with disabilities.
   Rights and Standards: IFES and other groups have drafted global standards on the electoral rights of citizens with disabilities.
   Best Practices: IFES and other groups have implemented innovative practices around the world.
  Publications
   Contacts and Links