ECOWAS: Sierra Leone 2023 elections largely peaceful

It said eligible voters were able to freely participate in the process despite some early challenges.

The challenges identified by the Mission included the late arrival of polling officials and materials resulting in some voters being agitated, leading to the extension of balloting, with the counting and tallying of votes ending late in some polling centers.

“The (ECOWAS) Mission commends the sense of patriotism exhibited by polling staff, the security forces, the general populace, who collectively played their parts in ensuring a peaceful conduct of the 2023 general elections,” Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Head of Mission was quoted as saying during the Preliminary Declaration in Freetown on Monday, 26th June.

“The Mission, however, expresses regret that major political parties pre-empted the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL) by rushing to announce their “victory” in the polls before the official announcement by the ECSL,” the statement said.

The Mission, therefore, appealed “to all stakeholders, particularly the political parties, candidates and their supporters, the security forces and the general citizenry to remain calm and patiently await the announcement of the results by the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone.”

It enjoined “candidates and political parties to refrain from making any statements that may lead to a breach of the peace,” reiterating that the ECSL remained the sole institution vested by the constitution with the authority to announce the results of the General Elections.

“The Mission further urges the Electoral Commission to diligently, but urgently, work to ensure the timely release of the results to avoid any tensions,” the statement said, while reminding “the candidates and the political parties of their commitment under the Election Peace Pledge to use only lawful channels in addressing any dispute that may emerge from the conduct of the 2023 general elections.”

From the 60% provisional results of the elections released by the ECSL on Monday, incumbent President Julius Maada Bio of the ruling SLPP was leading the other 12 candidates having received 1,067,666 of the votes declared.

His closest rival, Dr Samura Kamara, the main opposition candidate of the APC, was credited with 793,751 votes.

The two candidates control about 98% of the votes but if no candidate gets the mandatory 55% valid votes in the first round, the two frontrunners will go into a run-off election two weeks after the official release of the first-round results.

ECOWAS deployed 15 Long-Term and 80 Short-Term Observers in 15 of Sierra Leone’s 16 electoral districts for the elections.