In 2002 it was announced that the All People's Congress (APC) would hold their convention to elect a new leader that would challenge president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah of the SLPP who faced re-election for a second five-year term. Ernest Bai Koroma, then an Insurance broker from the northern district of Bombali who was virtually unknown by the general population in Sierra Leone announced his candidacy for the leadership of the All People's Congress (APC) ahead of the 2002 Sierra Leone presidential and parliamentary elections. He was one of seven candidates for the APC leadership.