THE EFFECT OF ETHNICITY ON DEMOCRATIC CONSOLIDATION: EVIDENCE FROM THE PREFERENCE FOR PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION SYSTEM IN SIERRA LEONE

Autor/innen

  • Saa Emerson Lamina PhD Candidate, Institute of Geography and Development Studies, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Njala University, Sierra Leone and Member of Parliament, Sierra Leone
  • Robert Daud Korsu PhD, Director of Research and Statistics, Bank of Sierra Leone and Associate Lecturer, Department of Economics, Njala University, Sierra Leone

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejpss.v9i2.2316

Schlagwörter:

ethnicity, democratic consolidation, proportional representation, Probit Model

Abstract

Ethnicity has been considered a factor that undermines political reforms in Africa, as well as the acceptance or preference for political reforms initiated by a ruling party, despite the need for democratic consolidation, which is a public good, in many cases. The study therefore investigates whether the preference for democratic consolidation implemented through proportional representation, like the reform of 2022 in Sierra Leone, which was the adoption of proportional representation, with implementation in the 2023 election, is driven by ethnic considerations or not. A survey of respondents across all district headquarters towns was conducted, and both Pearson’s Chi-squared, with its associated Cramer’s V statistic and the Probit model of preference for proportional representation were employed. The results show that the preference for Sierra Leone’s proportional representation is strongly linked to ethnicity, suggesting ethnicity undermines democratic consolidation in Sierra Leone. Based on this result, that ethnicity undermines democratic consolidation in Sierra Leone, it is important that the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone and the civic education institutions jointly strengthen efforts to explain in accessible languages how PR and the first-past-the-post translate votes into seats to ensure that the citizens do not evaluate electoral systems through their perceived consequences for their communities. It is also useful for Sierra Leone to employ policies that would encourage political parties to develop national instead of predominant ethnic support bases and strongly promote measures that build district or regional inclusive party platforms.

Autor/innen-Biografien

  • Saa Emerson Lamina, PhD Candidate, Institute of Geography and Development Studies, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Njala University, Sierra Leone and Member of Parliament, Sierra Leone

    Honorable Saa Emerson Lamina holds an MA degree in Peace and Development Studies (MA, PADS), a Master of Educational Administration (M.ED Admin) and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education, Linguistics Major (BA Ed. Ling), from Njala University, Sierra Leone. He is a Member of Parliament of Sierra Leone and a PhD candidate in the Institute of Geography and Development Studies, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Njala University. His research interests are Electoral Systems and Democratic Governance, Peace Building and Conflict Prevention, Politics of Development and Political Economy of Africa.

  • Robert Daud Korsu, PhD, Director of Research and Statistics, Bank of Sierra Leone and Associate Lecturer, Department of Economics, Njala University, Sierra Leone

    Robert Dauda Korsu is the Director of the Research and Statistics Department at the Bank of Sierra Leone and an Associate Lecturer at the Department of Economics, Njala University, Sierra Leone. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, an M.Sc. (Econ) from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia and a Bachelor’s degree with Honours in Economics from the University of Sierra Leone (Fourah Bay College). His research interests are Macroeconomic Policy, Monetary Economics, Applied Econometrics, and International Trade and Finance. He is a network member of the African Economic Research Consortium, based in Nairobi, Kenya, a Life Fellow of the Economic Association of Sierra Leone and is registered on ResearchGate, Google Scholar and Academia.edu.

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Veröffentlicht

2026-09-24

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Bd. 9 Nr. 2 (2026)

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Articles