After nearly five hours of reading, all five commissioners of the National Electoral Commission yesterday Monday 26th November 2010 finished declaring the parliamentary results for the 2012 elections.
At the end of the marathon reading and declaration by the Chief Electoral Commissioner the ruling APC won 67 seats, whilst the opposition SLPP won 42 seats. Three seats have not been declared because the courts have imposed an injunction on Constituencies 5 in Kailahun and 15 in Kenema whilst constituency 92 in the Western Urban had been postponed because of the death of the PMDC candidate.
As a result the APC which won 59 seats in the 2007 to 2012 parliament have now improved their seats by 8 adding up to 67 seats. On the other hand the SLPP who had 45 seats in the last parliament now has 42 losing out on improving their position by 3 seats.
Interestingly the PMDC had 8 seats in the last parliament and have now lost all. Effectively therefore the 2012 to 2017 parliament is strictly an APC and SLPP affair.
SLPP won all 8 PMDC seats, but then lost 5 seats in Kono and one seat in Kailahun (Tamba Sam). Two seats are still in contention (Constituency 5 Kailahun and 15 Kenema).
There have been speculations in some circles about an APC dominant parliament to the extent that some analysts are now hinting on a one party system. It is interesting to note however that in a 124-member parliament a two-thirds majority will require 82 seats. Given that the traditional leaders or the 12 Chiefs most certainly always vote along with the ruling party, this would give the APC a (67 + 12 = 79) 79 seats voting power. This however leaves the APC three short of a two-thirds majority, which is needed for passing important bills in parliament.
This makes the three seats that have not been announced by NEC, very critical for a total dominance of the next parliament by the APC. However two of these seats, Kailahun and Kenema are in SLPP territory while the third in the Western Area Rural is arguably in APC territory.
Should the APC decide to use all means at their disposal as they did in the just ended polls, it is likely that we will see an irrelevant SLPP representation in the new parliament, because if the APC gets the three seats (79 + 3 = 82) they will then have the magic number of 82 seats which gives them a two thirds majority. With a two thirds majority, the APC do not need the SLPP to pass any bill, and even if the SLPP objects to any bill, it will only be for the records, as their numbers would not enable them to block or delay the passing of any bill.
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