The presidential elections were won by Ahmed Tejan Kabbah of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), who defeated John Karefa-Smart of the United National People's Party in the second round by 60% to 40%.
The All People's Congress, which had governed from 1968 to 1992 (from 1978 to 1991 as the only legal party), ran in a contested election for the first time in two decades.
The parliamentary elections were held using proportional representation with a single nationwide constituency with a 5% electoral threshold.
[1] Previously the country had used first-past-the-post voting for parliamentary elections.
On 25 May 1997 Kabbah was deposed by a coup led by Johnny Paul Koroma.