In the 2012 Sierra Leone presidential and parliamentary Elections, the SLPP won the majority of the votes in Bonthe District. The party also won all of the three seats in the Sierra Leone Parliament from Bonthe District. The District has only three Representatives in the Parliament of Sierra Leone, of which all three were elected for a 5-year term in the 2012 Sierra Leone General Elections. The district is a stronghold of the main opposition party, the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP). Below are the list of Representatives in the Sierra Leonean Parliament:  The district is made up of eleven chiefdoms as the third level of administrative subdivision. Although the headquarters town, Bonthe, is located on Sherbro Island, it is part of neither of the two chiefdoms on the island: Sittia and Dema. Instead, the town is part of the Bonthe Sherbro Municipality, outside of the chiefdom administrative structure. The main economic activities include fishing, rice growing and palm oil plantations. Mattru is the main city, located 52 miles southwest of Bo, along the Jong River, which provides access to Sherbro Island and the Atlantic Ocean. Bonthe district was first among the districts in the Southern Province to undertake voluntary resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in 1997 among all economic hardship and combatant activities. The District suffered the mass exodus of IDPs when Sierra Rutile Company (the largest foreign exchange earner, taxpayer and employer of mine workers) suffered damage and destruction when attacked by fighting forces in 1995, and during all phases of the war. The company terminated its operations. Many indigenes, however, believe that the resettlement and rehabilitation activities of IDPs and restart of mining operations will help fast track the recovery process. They believe this could complement government in consolidation of peace and the drive for recovery.