2023-06-27 12:09:10
Incumbent President Julius Maada Bio leads the presidential election in Sierra Leone with 55.86% of the vote after 60% of the count, according to partial figures provided by the electoral commission and disputed by the opposition.
If trends continue, Julius Maada Bio would be re-elected for a second term since a candidate is elected in the first round if he wins more than 55% of the vote.
With 1,067,666 votes, Julius Maada Bio is ahead of his main opponent Samura Kamara, who received 793,751 votes, or 41.53% of the vote, according to figures given by Mohamed Kenewui Konneh, chairman of the electoral commission.
These first official results are contested by the opposition, which denounces in a press release the lack of inclusiveness, transparency and accountability of the electoral commission. It also raises the lack of information on the origin of the scores announced.
“We totally reject the announcement of the head of the electoral commission with these falsified figures”, said the All People’s Congress (APC), party of Samura Kamara.
Lack of transparency
In a press conference Monday, June 26, observers from the European Union considered that the lack of transparency and communication from the electoral authority had created mistrust in the electoral process.
They pointed to violent incidents reported in six departments and said they witnessed first-hand violence in seven offices during voting and three during the closing and counting.
Finally, they denounced the live ammunition fired by the security forces which killed one person on Sunday evening at the opposition headquarters in Freetown.
The final results will be announced within 48 hours, according to the electoral authority.
Some 3.4 million people were called on Saturday to choose between 13 presidential candidates, a 2018 revenge-like ballot between Mr. Bio, a 59-year-old retired soldier who is seeking a second term, and Samura Kamura, 72-year-old technocrat.
In 2018, Julius Maada Bio, candidate of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), won in the second round with 51.8% of the vote.
Julius Maada Bio has championed education and women’s rights. He said he wanted to prioritize agriculture and reduce his country’s dependence on food imports. In an address to the nation after the first results, the incumbent president called on Sierra Leoneans to remain calm and obey the law.
Samura Kamura, Minister of Finance and then Foreign Affairs before Mr. Bio took office in 2018, said he wanted to restore confidence in national economic institutions and attract foreign investors.
Woman killed
Security forces violently dispersed opponents in Freetown, at the headquarters of the APC party, on Sunday evening, while the election was generally peaceful. A precarious calm had returned on Monday.
A woman was killed in the unrest, an APC spokesperson said. This woman, a nurse in the medical dispensary at party headquarters, “was on the ground floor in the medical unit”, he said.
Police have not confirmed the death and say they threw tear gas canisters “to disperse the crowd which disturbed the people on the way” public.
“And then after a while we realized that even live ammunition was being fired”, he explains. “It was terrifying, like a horror movie. You know, it was like the end of the world.”
Hannah, a party secretary who declined to give her last name, returned early Monday morning to collect her bag and personal belongings which she had left in a hurry the night before.
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