At Work Around the World

Sierra Leone

To help promote peaceful elections after a devastating civil war, Sierra Leone officials invited The Carter Center to observe presidential and parliamentary elections in May 2002.

Building Hope
The Carter Center has been a force for peace in the war-torn nation of Sierra Leone since 2002, when it observed the first presidential and parliamentary elections since the end of Sierra Leone's civil war. A peaceful transition of power in Sierra Leone offers hope to the rest of conflict-ridden West Africa.

Waging Peace
Sierra Leone held presidential and parliamentary elections in May 2002 following the end of a decade of devastating civil war. The war, which was closely connected to conflicts in neighboring Liberia and Guinea, left approximately 50,000 people dead; 100,000 more mutilated; and 400,000 refugees and internally displaced persons. Intervention by the largest U.N. delegation of troops and personnel in the world - about 17,000 in total - was essential in bringing peace to Sierra Leone and maintaining peace during the elections. Continuing commitment by the international community to Sierra Leone and the subregion will be imperative to translate this single election into sustainable peace, democracy, and respect for human rights.

The Carter Center was the only U.S.-based organization that monitored the elections, which observers found were peaceful and relatively well-managed. The Center fielded a delegation of 22 observers, led by former Benin President Nicéphore Soglo and including nine civil society leaders from Liberia and Guinea.

The delegation commended the voters of Sierra Leone, political party agents, and polling station workers for their impressive commitment to peaceful voting under very challenging conditions. The United Nations also made an enormous contribution of helicopters for transporting election materials, peacekeepers stationed at every polling site, and fax machines and phones that were the only means of communication - even among election officials - in the vast majority of the country.

On election day, observers saw massive crowds waiting to cast ballots early in the morning. Later, an announcement from the Election Commission caused confusion by instructing that all individuals with voter cards should be allowed to cast ballots even if their names were not on registration lists. For this reason and because some districts received large numbers of transferred votes from refugees and displaced persons, some districts reported more than a 100 percent turnout. In its postelection public statement, The Carter Center noted the need for increased transparency in election rules and decisions by the Election Commission and for improving the voter registration process and voter education.



Election Reports

Observing the 2002 Sierra Leone Elections (PDF)
Observing the 2002 Sierra Leone Elections: Final Report. 

2002 Sierra Leone Elections: A Delegate's Journal
In late April, the message came I'd been waiting for since I retired and began doing volunteer writing projects for The Carter Center two years ago: I was invited to join a team to observe the May 14 presidential and parliamentary elections in Sierra Leone.

Postelection Statement on Sierra Leone Elections, May 16, 2002
The May 14 elections represent a tremendous step forward for Sierra Leone. After 10 years of devastating civil war, the Sierra Leonean people have made a courageous choice in favor of peace. They should be congratulated for this choice, and every effort must be made to ensure that the peace will be a lasting one. Election day itself is only one part of this process. A long road still lies ahead for Sierra Leoneans as they seek to consolidate democratic institutions, reaffirm the rule of law, and build a framework for sustainable development.