Sierra Leone’s Parliament passes controversial constitutional amendments
On Monday, the Sierra Leonean Parliament passed the bill to amend the Constitution (Constitution of Sierra Leone (Amendment) Bill, 2025). The vote was, however, overshadowed by a dispute over the majority required to pass individual provisions of the draft bill. The opposition All People’s Congress (APC) left the sitting after Speaker of Parliament Segepoh Solomon Thomas ruled that individual clauses of the bill could be voted on by a simple majority during the committee stage. The remaining MPs subsequently continued the proceedings and passed the bill. The APC does not recognise the passage of the bill.
The constitutional amendments include changes to the electoral system for presidential and parliamentary elections. In presidential elections, a candidate is to be elected in the first round by a simple majority of valid votes cast nationwide, rather than, as previously, by at least 55%, provided that they also receive at least 20% of the valid votes in at least two-thirds of the districts. For parliamentary elections, the proportional representation system already used in 2023 is to be permanently enshrined in the Constitution and replace the first-past-the-post system. For national and local elections, parties will also be required to field at least 30% female candidates.
The individual clauses of the bill were initially voted on during the committee stage, in which the entire Parliament (Committee of the Whole House in Sierra Leone) sits. During the first vote, on the establishment of a committee to select members of the National Electoral Commission, a dispute arose over the required majority. While Speaker Thomas maintained that a simple majority of MPs present was sufficient for the vote, as Section 108 of the Constitution provides for a two-thirds majority only for the second and third readings of a constitutional amendment bill, the APC argued that a two-thirds majority was already required for votes on individual clauses amending the Constitution. With 81 of the 149 seats, the governing Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) does not on its own have the 100 votes required for a two-thirds majority. Despite repeated protests from the opposition, Thomas ruled that a simple majority would determine the outcome of the vote. In response, 49 APC MPs left the sitting, while two remained in the chamber.
The day before the vote, President Julius Maada Bio, who has governed the country since 2018, had called on MPs to support the bill and not oppose constitutional amendments. The APC subsequently stressed that it was not opposed to constitutional reforms in principle, but rejected individual provisions of the bill, including the permanent introduction of the proportional representation system. The new electoral rules are to apply for the first time in the presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for 2028. After the vote, Speaker Thomas announced that he would refer the question of the required majority to the Supreme Court. The APC also called for judicial clarification of the majority requirements.
Kenya’s High Court issues landmark ruling on the length of electoral cycles
In Kenya, the High Court in Malindi ruled last Friday that, according to the Constitution, the next general election should have taken place as early as this Tuesday. The ruling thus contradicts the timetable set by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), which has scheduled the next election for 10 August 2027. The presiding judge, Justice Mugure Thande, stated that the Constitution does not guarantee a five-year presidential term. However, she suspended the effect of the ruling until after the next elections, particularly as holding an immediate election would be practically impossible and would plunge the country into political chaos.
The ruling, described by many observers as groundbreaking, is based on Article 136(2)(a) of the Kenyan Constitution. This stipulates that general elections must take place on the second Tuesday in August of the fifth year following the last election. Furthermore, Article 259(5)(c) governs the calculation of parliamentary terms. Accordingly, any five-year period referred to in the Constitution is deemed to end at the start of the fifth anniversary of the date of the event. According to the ruling, this means that the fifth year following the elections of 9 August 2022 began on 9 August this year, which is why the elections should have been held on Tuesday. According to Judge Thande, the election date in August 2027 proposed by the IEBC is therefore based on a misinterpretation of the Constitution. However, by suspending the judgment with immediate effect, Thande gave the IEBC – which was the main defendant in the case – time to correct its misinterpretation of the Constitution.
Following the ruling, the opposition party Forum for the Restoration of Democracy–Asili (FORD-Asili) called for elections to be held within the next 90 days. The party’s secretary general, Njeru Kathangu, said that President Ruto’s term of office had expired on 11 August, urging the authorities to hold snap elections.The Safina party, which had been a party to the legal action, also spoke out in favour of holding elections within the next two months. It described the ruling as a victory for the constitution and subsequently referred to the incumbent President William Ruto as interim president. Prominent opposition figures such as former Vice-President Rigathi Gachagua and Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, however, did not comment on the debate.
Critics of the ruling, meanwhile, cited, amongst other things, Article 177(4) of the Constitution, which grants members of regional parliaments a five-year term of office. Bringing the national elections forward by one year would therefore conflict with other constitutional provisions. Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale also accused the court of basing its ruling on an artificially contrived distinction between ‘five years’ and the ‘fifth year’, which would deprive the elected representatives of almost a year of their term of office.
The legal scholars Dr Owiso Owiso, Khelef Khalifa and Ashioya Biko had filed the lawsuit on which the current judgement is based in October last year, with the aim of securing a landmark ruling. The plaintiffs cited the 2013 and 2017 elections as examples demonstrating that the Constitution does not guarantee the President a five-year term of office. Former President Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn in on 9 April 2013. The subsequent elections took place on 8 August 2017, less than four and a half years later. The plaintiffs had argued accordingly that an election in 2027 would unlawfully extend President Ruto’s term of office by one year.
As the judgement has been suspended, the current election date of 10 August 2027 remains in place. Various parties, such as the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the IEBC, now have 14 days following the pronouncement of the judgement to lodge an appeal and to secure legal certainty for future elections through a final ruling by the Supreme Court. However, the IEBC has not yet made any official statement on this matter; instead, on Monday it merely published a one-year countdown along with the official election timetable setting out all key deadlines.
In other news
On Sunday, the second edition of the To Skater Festival came to a close in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Under the theme ‘The Renaissance of Congolese Skateboarding’, more than 500 young people gathered in Kinshasa over three days to promote the sport and combat prejudices against the urban culture scene. The event focused not only on the skateboard as a piece of sports equipment, but also as a means of education, social inclusion and artistic expression.. Alongside the host country, the DR Congo, delegations from Belgium, France, England and Brazil took part in this year’s festival. In addition to sporting activities such as skateboarding, BMX riding and breakdancing, the programme also featured a range of cultural activities including street art, graffiti, music and fashion. Several panel discussions also addressed the visibility of women in urban art and sport, the development of the Congolese street art scene, and comparisons with skateboarding culture in Europe. Skateboarding is not yet considered an established sport in the DR Congo. The festival aims in particular to inspire young people to take up the sport and help to anchor it in the country’s sporting and cultural landscape.