SIERRA LEONE: Parliament starts business
Sierra Leone's newly elected parliament sat for the first time on Tuesday, electing Justice Edward Cowan as speaker and Elizabeth Alpha Lavallie as deputy speaker. Both are from the ruling Sierra Leone's People's Party (SLPP). The session, held at Parliament Building, Tower Hill, in the capital, Freetown, was attended by 120 members out of 124, including opposition leaders.
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SIERRA LEONE: Parliament starts business
FREETOWN, 26 June (IRIN) - Sierra Leone's newly elected parliament sat for the first time on Tuesday, electing Justice Edward Cowan as speaker and Elizabeth Alpha Lavallie as deputy speaker. Both are from the ruling Sierra Leone's People's Party (SLPP).
The session, held at Parliament Building, Tower Hill, in the capital, Freetown, was attended by 120 members out of 124, including opposition leaders.
Parliament will be formally opened by President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah on 12 July.
Sierra Leone went to the polls on 10 and 14 May 2002 to elect its president and parliament. Eleven political parties took part, including the former rebel Revolutionary United Front. Nine of the 11 presented presidential candidates.
Kabbah won the presidential poll with 70.06 percent of votes cast. His SLPP won 83 seats in parliament, while the All People's Congress of Ernest Koroma won 27. Some 12 seats were filled by paramount chiefs elected on 10 June.
Kabbah on Monday met members of parliament from his party and urged them to interact regularly with the electorate. "Let the electorate know what the government is doing and you must know what their needs are," he said. "If possible visit them at least once a month. We must work hard to deliver what we promised and not just talk and talk."
The elections, hailed by observers and the United Nations as generally free and fair, were the first since Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war ended in January 2002.
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