[{"bbox": [83, 105, 1145, 156], "category": "Text", "text": "**parties' dispute resolution mechanism** and PPRC's capacity to implement its mandate and resolve party disputes and tensions is limited."}, {"bbox": [83, 185, 1145, 352], "category": "Text", "text": "The political tensions that marked the electoral environment still continue to characterise the public space and are exacerbated by **disinformation, hate speech, growing negative and abusive social media incendiary postings** that seem to be fomenting unrest. The period 2020 and 2021 has been marked by the occurrence of isolated yet very violent incidents throughout the country, with eruption of **unrest and violence among youths** which have resulted in **heavy handed responses from the security agents** and loss of lives. These all merit continued close monitoring and preventive measures."}, {"bbox": [83, 381, 1145, 515], "category": "Text", "text": "**Sierra Leone** has a long history of inequality, neglect and marginalisation of women and youth, a fact cited by the Truth and reconciliation Commission as a key contributing factor to both the eruption and protracted nature of the civil war. A USAID-supported assessment of democracy, human rights and governance issues in Sierra Leone noted a lack of evidence that post-conflict reforms have addressed these issues. Thus the action will seek to incorporate strong focus and targets for inclusion of women and youth across its objectives."}, {"bbox": [83, 540, 1145, 937], "category": "Text", "text": "**Women** are strongly under-represented in the political sphere and ensuring that women can access and compete on an equal footing for leadership and decision-making roles remains a major concern. Whilst existing rules and regulations governing political process as well as public and civil service are mostly gender neutral, a number of legal provisions have discriminatory effect such as those related to candidates' nomination fees and resignation requirements for eligibility to contest elections by public officers. Gender inequalities are high in costumes and practices. Sierra Leone is generally a patriarchal society. Women are confronted with limited education, access to and control over resources and access to decision making. Their voice, visibility, participation and representation in elective and appointment positions remain relatively low. There are issues of marginalisation and under-representation of women in all spheres of life, including in leadership and decision-making institutions such as chieftaincy, ministerial appointments, heads of parastatals, representation on boards, etc. In 2018, only 100 women (a mere 12.5% of all candidates) ran for parliamentary seats. Currently, out of 132 directly elected Members of Parliament (MPs), 16 are women and out of 14 Paramount Chiefs MPs, 2 are women making up 14.52% of the total parliamentarians. There are 18.9% female councilors in local government. There are only two female ministers out of a total of 24 and four deputies out of the same number. There is one female ambassador and only five women heads of state institutions²."}, {"bbox": [83, 964, 1145, 1125], "category": "Text", "text": "**Sierra Leone's young population is an opportunity and a risk to the conduct of elections.** The 2015 census shows that 80% of Sierra Leoneans are aged below 35 years. Since the end of the civil war, a new generation of new voters has emerged, who did not experience the war. This leaves the risk that this group of young voters living in the context of endemic poverty and unemployment could be hijacked by the political class for their selfish agenda. This youthful population at the same time presents an opportunity to have a new generation of voters who could change the face of politics by promoting democratic norms and demanding accountability from the political class."}, {"bbox": [83, 1150, 880, 1177], "category": "Text", "text": "Many of the issues that emerged in the run-up to the 2018 elections remain unresolved:"}, {"bbox": [122, 1204, 1145, 1469], "category": "List-item", "text": "* **Financing for elections:** Positively, the Government of Sierra Leone (GOSL) has pledged to increase budgetary allocation to the Electoral Commission (EC-SL) and support the 2023 election process through a dedicated financing arrangement or “trust fund”, thereby providing some assurance that electoral preparations will be on track and sufficient. However, there was a similar notion ahead of the 2018 elections that did not materialise. As a result the international community was obliged to step in to ensure that elections could proceed, without delay, and with the required levels of integrity. 2022 National Budget, currently under legislative scrutiny, indicates a high national-level commitment to funding for elections. However, should there be yet again a need, the project might step in and support the planning and procurement of sensitive electoral material (e.g. ink, ballot papers, etc.). Such procurement would be considered on an emergency basis only."}, {"bbox": [122, 1494, 1145, 1574], "category": "List-item", "text": "* **Voter registration:** the integrated civil registration system which is expected to provide data for the extraction of the voter register is not yet fully operational. If the civil registry functions are not effectively and successfully established on time for next election, there might be need for EC-SL to undertake another"}, {"bbox": [72, 1640, 1157, 1689], "category": "Footnote", "text": "² Inter-Parliamentary Union (2021). Global Data on National Parliamentarians. https://data.ipu.org/node/153/data-on-women?chamber_id=13524"}, {"bbox": [1051, 1690, 1157, 1714], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 7 of 33"}]