Government

presidential republic

System	presidential republic
Capital	Freetown
Head of state	President Julius Maada BIO (since 27 June 2023)
Head of government	President Julius Maada BIO (since 27 June 2023)
Legislature	legislature name: Parliament; legislative structure: unicameral; number of seats: 149 (135 directly elected; 14 indirectly elected); electoral system: proportional representation; scope of elections: full renewal; term in office: 5 years; most recent election date: 6/24/2023; parties elected and seats per party: Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) (81); All People’s Congress (APC) (54); percentage of women in chamber: 29.5%; expected date of next election: June 2028
Judiciary	highest court(s): Superior Court of Judicature (consists of the Supreme Court at the top, with the chief justice and 4 other judges, the Court of Appeal with the chief justice and 7 other judges, and the High Court of Justice with the chief justice and 9 other judges); judge selection and term of office: Supreme Court chief justice and other judges of the Judicature appointed by the president on the advice of the Judicial and Legal Service Commission, a 7-member independent body of judges, presidential appointees, and the Commission chairman, and are subject to approval by Parliament; all Judicature judges serve until retirement at age 65; subordinate courts: magistrates’ courts; District Appeals Court; local courts
Constitution	history: several previous; latest effective 1 October 1991; amendment process: proposed by Parliament; passage of amendments requires at least two-thirds majority vote of Parliament in two successive readings and assent of the president of the republic; passage of amendments affecting fundamental rights and freedoms and many other constitutional sections also requires approval in a referendum with participation of at least one half of qualified voters and at least two thirds of votes cast
Independence	27 April 1961 (from the UK)
Administrative divisions	4 provinces and 1 area*; Eastern, Northern, North Western, Southern, Western*

Departments

TODO. Ministries and authoritative sites, to be filled out.

Hierarchy

How power is wired. The diagram below carries the generic template; refine the boxes and edges to match the current regime.

        flowchart TD
  HoS["Head of State"]
  HoG["Head of Government"]
  Leg["Legislature"]
  Jud["Judiciary"]
  Cab["Cabinet"]
  Foreign["Foreign Affairs"]
  Interior["Interior"]
  Defense["Defense"]
  Finance["Finance"]
  Justice["Justice"]

  HoS --> HoG
  HoG --> Cab
  Cab --> Foreign
  Cab --> Interior
  Cab --> Defense
  Cab --> Finance
  Cab --> Justice
  HoS -.- Leg
  HoS -.- Jud
    

Resources

Public-facing portals the people use day to day. Operators monitor these for policy changes, official notices, and civil-registry data.

Resource	Site	Purpose
National portal	to be filled	One-stop government services for citizens.
Tax / revenue	to be filled	Income tax, VAT, customs.
Civil registry	to be filled	Births, deaths, marriages, national ID.
Immigration	to be filled	Visas, residency, naturalisation.
Health	to be filled	Public health, advisories, vaccination records.
Education	to be filled	Curricula, school directories, transcripts.
Statistics	to be filled	Census, economic indicators, opendata.
Police / emergency	to be filled	Reporting, missing persons, emergency contacts.