THE IMPACT OF CANDIDATE
DEBATES IN SIERRA LEONE
SIERRA LEONE IN RUN-UP TO 2012
(FROM PREVIOUS WORK DONE BY IPA
RESEARCHERS)
 Voter Turnout High and Ethnic-Political Party Ties
Strong - 2007/8 Elections
 National
 76% voted
 86% voted for party affiliated with tribe
Local
39% voted
75% voted for party affiliated with tribe
 Voters know more about Local Councilors than MPs
 If don’t know candidates, may vote on traditional lines
 Parties may have less incentive to find the best
candidates when voters don’t have good information may instead rely on ethnic loyalties to deliver the vote
EXIT POLL IN CONTROL VILLAGES
Election Day (Nov 2012) exit polls in control
villages reveal that:
• Only 28% of voters could name the two
Parliamentary candidates
• 64% couldn’t name a single MP job
responsibility
• 3% knew the amount of the MPs’ constituency
facilitation fund
• 35% knew the proposed quota for women’s
representation in government and 17% knew
the candidates’ positions on the bill
• 70% of voters have zero years of schooling,
31% have no radio
Research question: can giving voters information
about candidates and policy facilitate more
informed voting and greater accountability?
OVERALL DEVELOPMENT GOAL
Improve service delivery and reduce poverty
In previous elections – citizens do not have
enough information to hold officials to
account – thus difficult to improve
governance
Is better information the answer? What
information matters? Will it change voters
choices and in the end improve service
delivery?
KEY STUDY QUESTIONS
Can hosting structured debates between candidates provide
Voters with information on the performance and capabilities of
Both incumbents and challengers, thereby making voting more
Sensitive to leader quality, relaxing reliance on ethnic-party ties,
And increasing the contestability of seats?
Which components of information revealed in debates (e.g. concrete
information on policy preference and competence, less tangible
indicators of candidate quality like oratory skills and persuasion
power, and purely superficial attributes like age and attractiveness)
are most influential in changing voter behavior?
OUR THREE-PRONGED APPROACH
Parties
• encouraging them to nominate better qualified candidates
• Scorecards to each MP based on surveys with constituents
• ## distributed
Voters
• information on candidate policies, personal characteristics and
qualifications
• Debates between candidates in 14 constituencies
• # screenings and estimated attendees
Candidates
• encouraging them to invest more time and money in their
constituencies
TREATMENT CONSTITUENCIES
District
Constituency
Western Rural
93
Port Loko
56
Kambia
37
Bombali
32
Tonkolili
63
Koinadugu
43
Koinadugu
46
Koinadugu
47
Moyamba
84
Moyamba
85
Bp
70
Kenema
15
Kenema
14
Kono
22
CONTROL CONSTITUENCIES
District
Constituency
Koinadugu
44
Koinadugu
45
Koinadugu
48
Kambia
38
Kambia
41
Kambia
42
Port Loko
54
Kailahun
3
Kailahun
4
Kenema
17
Moyamba
81
Moyamba
86
Western Rural
92
Western Rural
94
TIMELINE OF PROJECT
• Pilot
January – February 2012
• Filming Debates
October 2012
• Screening
October – November 2012
• Exit Poll
November 2012
NEEDED LOTS OF DATA
To answer all these questions we needed
lots of data!
Before and After Debate Survey
knowledge of politics and candidates,
policy stances, voting intentions
Exit Poll Survey
same people, policy questions, who
they voted for and why
ONE OF OUR 10,000 SURVEYS!
OUR DATA
Representative survey – randomly
selected households/individuals
Before and After Debate Survey
5000 surveys in 10 districts
Exit Poll Survey
Over 8,000 surveys in 10 districts
Collected 98% target data
DEBATE SCREENING
• Debates hosted in 14 of the 28 most
closely contested constituencies
• “Road show” of debate screenings in 112
of 224 polling centers plus 85 additional
screenings in satellite villages
• Approximately 19,000 individuals saw a
debate
SOME OF THE DIFFICULTIES
Rivers…
Bridges…
Lakes…
Terrible roads…
GOING FORWARD…
• Create a platform for discussion
between relevant government and civil
society actors exploring possible ways
to build on the results of the research.
• Explore how debates can support voter
education initiatives?
• How can the successful candidates be
held accountable for the promises they
made during the election?
• How can we ensure that all voters are
better informed about candidate quality
at the next election?
THE END
THANK YOU