Sierra Leone People's Party | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | SLPP |
Leader | Julius Maada Bio |
Chairperson | Prince Harding[1] |
Secretary-General | Umaru Napoleon Koroma[2] |
Spokesperson | Lahai Laurence Leema |
Founder | Lamina Sankoh, Paramount Chief Julius Gulama, Milton Margai, among others |
Founded | 27 April 1951 |
Merger of | Peoples Party (PP), Protectorate Education Progressive Union (PEPU), Sierra Leone Organisation Society (SOS) |
Headquarters | 15 Wallace Johnson Street, Freetown, Sierra Leone |
Ideology | Social democracy Civic nationalism Third Way |
Political position | Centre to centre-left |
Continental affiliation | Democrat Union of Africa |
Colors | Green |
Slogan | "One People, One Country"[3] |
Seats in Parliament | 81 / 149 [4] |
District Council Chairs | 6 / 16 |
Municipality Mayors | 3 / 7 |
Website | |
slpp | |
The Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) is one of the two major political parties in Sierra Leone, along with its main political rival the All People's Congress (APC). It has been the ruling party in Sierra Leone since 4 April 2018. The SLPP dominated Sierra Leone's politics from its foundation in 1951 to 1967, when it lost the 1967 parliamentary election to the APC, led by Siaka Stevens. Originally a centre-right, conservative party,[5] it identifies since 2012 as a centre-left social democratic party,[6][7][8] with a centrist tendency.
The SLPP returned to power when its leader Ahmad Tejan Kabbah won the 1996 presidential election. The party was in power from 1996 to 2007, when it again lost to the APC, led by Ernest Bai Koroma, in the 2007 presidential election. SLPP returned to power on 4 April 2018 when Julius Maada Bio was sworn in as the new President of Sierra Leone after winning the 2018 Sierra Leone presidential election.
SLPP is overwhelmingly popular in Mende areas in south and eastern Sierra Leone (except in Kono District, a swing district), where the party regularly wins presidential, parliamentary and local elections by large margins. The SLPP has large minority support in the Western Area (including Freetown). The SLPP also has large minority support in Koinadugu District and Falaba District in the north of the country. The SLPP also has significant minority support in Kambia District in the north of the country.