Sir Milton's government was based on the rule of law and the notion of separation of powers, with multiparty political institutions and fairly viable representative structures.

The parliament of Sierra Leone held an emergency session to elect a new prime minister; the person must be a member of the ruling SLPP party.

The other was Dr. John Karefa-Smart, Sierra Leone's foreign minister and a close ally of Sir Milton.

Sir Albert Margai was elected by a majority vote in Parliament to be the new leader of the SLPP and the next prime minister of Sierra Leone.

Sir Albert also tried to establish a one-party state but with very little support in Parliament, even among his fellow SLPP members and was also met by fierce resistance from the main opposition the All People's Congress (APC), which had become suddenly more popular than the ruling SLPP and ultimately abandoned the idea.

He had the police and the army on his side and nothing could have prevented him from achieving his ambition to hold on to power, but he chose not to and called for a free and fair elections.

After the closely contested general election in March 1967, Sierra Leone Governor General Sir Henry Josiah Lightfoot Boston declared the new prime minister to be Siaka Stevens, an ethnic Limba, the candidate of the APC and the mayor of Freetown.

Stevens had defeated the incumbent prime minister, Sir Albert Margai, by a narrow margin.

Stevens won the majority of the vote in the north of the country and in the western area, including in Freetown.

Albert Margai on the other side, won the vast majority of the vote in south-eastern Sierra Leone.

Mere hours after he took office, soldiers stormed the State House and abducted Stevens at gunpoint.

The coup was led by Brigadier General David Lansana, an ethnic Mende and the commander of the Sierra Leone Armed Forces.

On 23 March 1967, however, a group of senior army officers led by Brigadier Andrew Juxon-Smith, an ethnic Creole, in turn seized control of the government, arrested Lansana and suspended the constitution.

The group constituted itself as the National Reformation Council (NRC) with Brigadier Andrew Juxon-Smith as its chairman.

Queen Elizabeth II visited Sierra Leone from 25 November to 1 December 1961, shortly after independence.