Political Scientist Dr. Yusuf Bangura recently wrote an article titled "Sierra Leone's Voter Registration Data Discredits Census Data: Implications for June Elections," in which he opined that the demise of the NGC (National Grand Coalition) will make it easier for one of the two main parties to win the June presidential election in the first round of voting. Dr. Bangura pointed out that the minor parties, including the Coalition for Change, Alliance Democratic Party, The United Democratic Party, the People's Movement For Democratic Change, and the Unity Party, accounted for only 7.2 percent of the votes in the 2018 presidential elections in the first round of voting and seemed to have fizzled out.
Unfortunately, the party that promised an alternative, the NGC, is in its death throes after its leader, Kandeh Yumkella, called for a "strategic partnership" with the ruling party's "Progressive Alliance" on April 14, 2023. Even before its fracturing in January 2023, the NGC had become a poor shadow of its 2018 version that secured 6.86 percent of the national vote and parliamentary seats in Kambia. If it contests the June 2023 elections separately or in alliance with SLPP, it may well end up as a small ethnic minority party, according to Dr. Bangura.
Dr. Bangura stated that the 2023 presidential election is likely to be a referendum on Bio's economic development and governance record. With the Sierra Leone economy facing numerous challenges, such as double-digit inflation, high fuel costs, and excruciating tax obligations, and unemployment and company profits falling, many Sierra Leoneans are looking forward to Dr. Samura Kamara to remedy the situation before the economy goes into recession.
Many political pundits have suggested that the political marriage between the SLPP and NGC did not come as a surprise to many Sierra Leoneans following insinuations and actions leading to this arrangement between the two parties. They inquire about how strategic the strategic alliance between the SLPP and NGC is. As the June 24th elections draw closer, Sierra Leoneans are witnessing the episodic transfer of some politicians, particularly from opposition parties, seeking political asylum in the ruling party (SLPP). Some of these reused politicians fictitiously give all sorts of reasons for abandoning their political parties, but political pundits say some of these unreliable politicians were part of the politicians who had pillaged this country's resources seeking political safe haven for their ill-gotten wealth.
Many have described the SLPP and NGC alliance as a masqueraded political repatriation to the party Dr. Kandeh Yumkella had deserted after his unsuccessful bid to become the Sierra Leone People's Party flag bearer for the 2018 general election.