All People's Congress

Infobox Political party
party_name = All People's Congress (APC)
party_
leader = Ernest Bai Koroma
foundation = 1962
ideology = Liberalism
headquarters = 37th Fourah Bay Road
Freetown, Sierra Leone

international =
website = http://apc.homestead.com/:"All People's Congress" is also the name of a sister organization of the International Action Center in the United States."

The All People's Congress is one of the two major political parties in Sierra Leone, the other is the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP). The party was founded in 1962 by by Siaka Stevens. It governed the country from 1968 to 1992, and became the ruling party again in 2007, after the party presidential candidate Ernest Bai Koroma won the 2007 presidential election.

Overview

In 1978, the APC became the sole legal party in the country. Former presidents Siaka Stevens and Joseph Saidu Momoh were members of the APC. Momoh was overthrown in a military coup in 1992, and during the long civil war that followed, the party was severely weakened.

In the parliamentary election held on 14 May 2002, the party won 19.8 % of popular votes and 22 out of 112 seats. Its candidate in the presidential elections, Ernest Bai Koroma, won 22.3 % of the vote; he was defeated by Ahmed Tejan Kabbah of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP).

For several years Koroma's leadership was challenged by some in the party, who took the issue to court; the dispute was said to be resolved in April 2007, with Koroma being accepted by party dissidents as the party's leader ahead of the 2007 election. [Sayoh Kamara, [http://news.sl/drwebsite/publish/article_20055183.shtml "APC Gets Final Peace in Sierra Leone"] , "Awareness Times", April 5, 2007.] [ [http://apanews.net/apa.php?page=show_article_eng&id_article=25080 "Sierra Leone’s main opposition party settles internal dispute"] , African Press Agency, April 6, 2007.] He is the party's candidate for president in the election, the first round of which was held in August 2007. In the first round he took first place with 44.3% of the vote, ahead of Solomon Berewa of the ruling Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) with 38.3%, but did not receive enough votes to win outright, and a second round was necessary. In the parliamentary election, held concurrently with the presidential first round, the APC won 59 out of 112 seats and became the largest party in Parliament. [http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=86&art_id=nw20070823223651419C426830 "Freetown opposition party wins majority"] , Reuters ("IOL"), August 24, 2007.]

Koroma was victorious in the second round of the 2007 presidential election, held on September 8, winning 54.6% of the vote against 45.4% for Berewa.Rod MacJohnson, [http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=566281 "Sierra Leone gets a new leader"] , AFP ("The Times", South Africa), September 17, 2007.] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6998687.stm "S Leone opposition win presidency"] , BBC News, 17 September 2007.] He was sworn in as President on September 17. [Katrina Manson and Christo Johnson, [http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=86&art_id=nw20070917222631534C943067 "Koroma pledges healing in Sierra Leone"] , Reuters ("IOL"), September 18, 2007.]

APC has traditionally been based amongst the Temne and Limba people in the north.

References

External links

* [http://apcparty.org/ Official site]