Editing Freetown (section)

== Government ==
The city of Freetown is one of Sierra Leone's six municipalities and is governed by a [[directly elected]] [[city council]], headed by a mayor, in whom [[executive authority]] is vested. The current mayor is [[Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr]]. The mayor is responsible for the general management of the city. The mayor and members of the Freetown City Council are elected directly by the residents of Freetown every four years.

The government of the Freetown Municipality has been dominated by [[All People's Congress]] (APC) since 2004. Since 2004, the residents of Freetown have voted in municipal elections for members of the All People's Congress (APC) by an overwhelming majority. The APC won the city's mayorship and vast majority seats in the Freetown city council in the 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2018 local elections by more than 67% each.

In Presidential elections Freetown is considered a swing city, as it has a large support base of both the All People's Congress and the [[Sierra Leone People's Party]]. However, the APC has won majority percent of the votes in Freetown in the 2007, 2012 and 2018 Sierra Leone Presidential election, including The APC winning more than 65% of the votes in Freetown in both The 2012 and 2018 Sierra Leone Presidential elections. The APC presidential candidate [[Ernest Bai Koroma]] received 69% of the votes in Freetown in the 2012 Sierra Leone Presidential election; compared to the SLPP presidential candidate [[Julius Maada Bio]] who received 30%. In the 2018 Sierra Leone Presidential election, The APC presidential candidate [[Samura Kamara]] received 65% compared to the SLPP presidential candidate Julius Maada Bio who received 34%, though Maada Bio won the presidential election nationally.

In November 2011, Freetown Mayor [[Herbert George-Williams]] was removed from office and replaced by council member Alhaji Gibril Kanu as acting mayor. Mayor Herbert George-Williams and eight others, including the Chief Administrator of the Freetown city council Bowenson Fredrick Philips; and the Freetown city council Treasurer Sylvester Momoh Konnehi, were arrested and indicted by the [[Sierra Leone Anti-corruption Commission]] on twenty-five counts on [[graft (politics)|graft]] charges, ranging from [[Conspiracy (crime)|conspiracy]] to commit corruption to misappropriation of [[public funds]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AS0AR20111129 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111203083439/http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AS0AR20111129 |archive-date=3 December 2011 |title=Sierra Leone indicts Freetown mayor for graft |work=Reuters |last=Akam |first=Simon |date=29 November 2011 |access-date=19 August 2022}}</ref> Mayor [[Herbert George-Williams]] was acquitted of seventeen of the nineteen charges against him. He was convicted of two less serious charges by the Freetown [[High Court]] judge Jon Bosco Katutsi and sentenced to pay a [[fine (penalty)|fine]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thepatrioticvanguard.com/spip.php?article6638 |title=Freetown: Mayor, Five Others Sentenced |work=The Patriotic Vanguard |date=15 August 2012 |access-date=19 August 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://allafrica.com/stories/201208170197.html |title=Sierra Leone: Mayor, Others to Pay Le455 Million or Risk Three-Year Jail |work=All Africa |last=Kamara |first=Patrick J. |date=16 August 2012 |access-date=19 August 2022}}</ref>

Acting Mayor Kanu lost the APC nomination for the mayor of Freetown in the 2012 Mayoral elections by 56 votes; council member Sam Franklyn Bode Gibson won 106 in a landslide victory.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cocorioko.net/?p=36480 |title=Councillor Bode Gibson Wins The Freetown APC Mayoral Candidate Contest |work=Cocorioko |access-date=2012-11-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110034409/http://www.cocorioko.net/?p=36480 |archive-date=November 10, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://bintumani.forumchitchat.com/post/Acting-Mayor-Blast-Krio-Tribalism-in-Freetown-City-Council-5975300|title=Acting Mayor Blast Krio Tribalism in Freetown City Council|website=bintumani.forumchitchat.com}}</ref>

In the national presidential and parliamentary elections, Freetown is similar to [[swing states]] in [[American politics]]. As the city is so [[ethnically]] diverse, no single ethnic group forms a majority of the population of the city. Historically, the APC and the SLPP, two of the country's major political parties, have had about equal support in the city. In the 2007 Sierra Leone Presidential election, the APC candidate and then main opposition leader, [[Ernest Bai Koroma]], won just over 60% of the votes in the [[Western Area Urban District]], including the city of Freetown, where almost the entire District population reside.