President of Sierra Leone

President of the
Republic of Sierra Leone

Presidential Flag
Incumbent
Ernest Bai Koroma
since September 17, 2007
Residence

State House

State Avenue, Tower Hill, Freetown, Sierra Leone
Term length Five years, renewable once
Inaugural holder Siaka Stevens
Formation 19 April 1971
Website http://www.statehouse.gov.sl/
This article is part of a series on the
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The President of the Republic of Sierra Leone is the head of state and the head of government of Sierra Leone, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The President appoints and heads a Cabinet of ministers (including the Vice President), which must be approved by the Parliament.

The President of Sierra Leone is addressed as His Excellency. The current President of Sierra Leone is Ernest Bai Koroma.

Term

The president is elected by popular vote to a maximum of two five-year terms.

Election

To be elected president of Sierra Leone, a candidate must gain at least 55 percent of the vote. If no candidate gets the 55 percent requirement, there will be a second-round runoff between the top two candidates with the most votes in the first round. For qualification to be elected President of Sierra Leone, the person must be a Sierra Leonean citizen by birth; should have attained the age of 40 years; should be a member of a political party; and should be able to speak and read the English language. The current president of Sierra Leone is Ernest Bai Koroma. Koroma was sworn in as president on 17 September 2007, shortly after being declared the winner of a tense run-off election.[1]

Residence

The President of Sierra Leone official and principal workplace is at State House, located in Tower Hill in central Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone.

The president of Sierra Leone has two official residence. The first is at State Lodge, located in the affluent neighborhood of Hill Station in the west end of Freetown; the second is at Kabasa Lodge, located in the affluent neighborhood of Juba Hill in the west end of Freetown.[2]

The current president Ernest Bai Koroma uses the State Lodge at Hill Station as his official residence.[3] The former presidents Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, Joseph Saidu Momoh and Siaka Stevens used mostly the Kabasa Lodge at Juba Hill as their official residence.

Security

The President of Sierra Leone is heavily guarded by the Presidential Guard, which is made up of both a special unit of soldiers of the Sierra Leone Armed Forces and a special unit of the Sierra Leone Police Force.

The military wing of the Presidential Guard is under the command and supervision of the Sierra Leone Ministry of Defence and the police wing is under the command and supervision of the Special security division of the Sierra Leone Police Force.

List of Presidents

Latest election

Candidate Party Votes %
Ernest Bai KoromaAll People's Congress1,314,88158.7
Julius Maada BioSierra Leone People's Party837,51737.4
Charles Francis MargaiPeople's Movement for Democratic Change28,9441.3
Joshua Albert CarewCitizens Democratic Party22,8631.0
Eldred CollinsRevolutionary United Front12,9930.6
Gibrilla KamaraPeople's Democratic Party8,2730.4
Kandeh Baba ContehPeace and Liberation Party6,1440.3
Mohamed BanguraUnited Democratic Movement5,0690.2
James Obai FullahUnited National People's Party5,0440.2
Invalid/blank votes108,898–
Total2,459,524100
Registered voters/turnout 87.3
Source:National Electoral Commission[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ BBC country profile
  2. ↑
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ National Electoral Commission