2023-06-24 06:55:16
The incumbent president of Sierra Leone and former retired soldier, Julius Maada Bio, candidate of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) will try on Saturday to be re-elected for a second term once morest his technocrat competitor Samura Kamara, leader of the All People’s Congress (APC).
Published on: 06/24/2023 – 08:55
Sierra Leoneans head to the polls on Saturday June 24 to elect their president, with outgoing head of state Julius Maada Bio seeking a second term in tough economic times.
About 3.4 million people are called upon to choose between 13 candidates. The offices opened at 7 a.m. (local and GMT) and will close at 5 p.m.
This presidential election is the revenge of 2018 between the 59-year-old retired soldier and his technocrat competitor Samura Kamara, 72, leader of the All People’s Congress (APC). Julius Maada Bio, candidate for the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), won in the second round with 51.8% of the vote.
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Since then, he has had to govern one of the poorest countries on the planet, hard hit by Covid-19 and then the war in Ukraine. The former British colony was already struggling to recover from a bloody civil war (1991-2002) and the Ebola epidemic (2014-2016).
Inflation and exasperation with the government sparked riots in August 2022, killing 27 civilians and six policemen.
Julius Maada Bio has championed education and women’s rights. He told AFP that he would prioritize agriculture and reduce his country’s dependence on food imports during a second term.
Cost of living
His main opponent, Samura Kamara, Minister of Finance and then Foreign Affairs before the advent of Julius Maada Bio in 2018, intends to restore confidence in national economic institutions and attract foreign investors, he told AFP. .
Sierra Leoneans will elect their Parliament and local councils at the same time. A third of the candidates will have to be women, under a new law.
The high cost of living is the common concern of a very large majority of Sierra Leoneans. Prices of staples like rice have skyrocketed. Inflation in March was 41.5% over one year.
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“People are struggling even to afford three meals a day,” said a 19-year-old from the Cockle Bay slum in Freetown, speaking on condition of anonymity. “In addition, the government is violating our fundamental rights, starting with freedom of expression.”
After decades of unrest, coups and authoritarian rule, Sierra Leone has been electing its president since the late 1990s.
Julius Maada Bio himself was a member of a group of officers who seized power by force in 1992 and leader in 1996 of a new putsch following which he organized free elections before leaving for the UNITED STATES.
Risk of violence
Rights defenders denounce the persistence of serious abuses, including by the government or on behalf of the government. The opening in February of a corruption trial once morest Samura Kamara just following his nomination as the APC candidate has raised questions.
The outgoing mayor of the capital, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, a popular member of the APC and candidate for re-election, has also had a run-in with the law.
Analysts point out, however, that a large proportion of Sierra Leoneans are likely to determine themselves much more by regional affiliations than by the price of foodstuffs or respect for rights, and will calculate that money and work will go to the regions. whose representatives will be associated with the winner of the presidential election.
The risk of violence is one of the unknowns, although the countryside was calmer than on previous occasions in Freetown, where clashes between security forces and APC supporters broke out on Wednesday.
Macksood Gibril Sesay, a former member of the electoral commission, said he was worried that following the riots in August 2022 there was “no healing process”. “Everyone knows that elections are a time when all it takes is a spark for there to be chaos everywhere,” he said.
Disinformation abounds on both sides and social networks should exert an influence that they have never had before. Around three million people now have internet access, up from just 370,000 in 2018, Information Minister Mohamed Rahman Swaray said.
With AFP
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