Vote counting started in Sierra Leone on Saturday twenty fourth June, 2023 following a largely peaceable basic election regardless of a late begin in some polling stations, because the opposition denounced alleged irregularities. President Julius Maada Bio is looking for a second time period amid a crippling cost-of-living disaster that sparked lethal riots final yr. Twelve males and one lady are vying for the highest job, although Bio’s fundamental challenger is Samura Kamara of the All Individuals’s Congress (APC).
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Bio, 59, of the Sierra Leone Individuals’s Get together (SLPP), narrowly beat Kamara, who’s aged 72, in a runoff in 2018. Polling stations had been scheduled to open at 7:00 am and shut at 5:00 pm (1700 GMT), however many stations within the capital Freetown opened late, AFP journalists noticed. By 5:40 pm (1740 GMT), tallying had begun on the Aberdeen Police Station in Freetown, AFP journalists noticed. Many stations had been more likely to stay open lengthy after the electoral fee confirmed in a press release that each one voters within the queue at 5:00 pm could be allowed to vote. “Polling is occurring in a comparatively peaceable method,” the fee stated in a press release. “There have been logistical challenges in some polling centres regarding the late arrival of supplies.”
– Delays –
After casting his poll on the Wilberforce Barracks in Freetown on Saturday morning, Bio inspired residents to take part peacefully. “Exit and vote — it’s your proper,” he stated. “Vote safely. If you happen to win, rejoice safely.” Kamara voted within the Freetown neighbourhood of Lumley, telling reporters that “This election is about the way forward for Sierra Leone”. However he stated the polling station — which opened greater than two hours late, an AFP journalist noticed — was “congested”. “Don’t be shocked if there may be confusion,” he stated. Kamara has for weeks lambasted the electoral fee for alleged bias in favour of the governing celebration.
Nationwide Election Watch, a coalition of civil society teams, stated 84 per cent of the polling stations it was observing had opened by 8:00 am. Nevertheless, solely 59 per cent of stations within the Freetown space had opened by that point. Two AFP journalists arrived at a polling station in central Freetown on Saturday afternoon the place voting was simply getting underway. A soldier current informed AFP that voting had began at 2:00 pm. “I’m so impressed by the resilience and fortitude of… voters — lots of whom stood in line for hours within the scorching solar to train their proper to vote,” US Ambassador David Reimer stated on Twitter. – Meals costs –
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Sierra Leone, nonetheless recovering from the West Africa Ebola epidemic of 2014-2016, was once more hit exhausting by the Covid pandemic and the fallout of Russia’s conflict in Ukraine. 12 months-on-year inflation within the nation hit 43 per cent in April. Within the Kroo Bay slum, a protracted queue of voters snaked alongside a rubbish-filled stream towards a polling station that had solely partially opened by 9:00 am. “There’s an excessive amount of hardship, not sufficient to eat, inflation is just too excessive,” stated Issa Bangura, a 48-year-old business driver queueing to vote there. “We’re struggling, so I wish to change.” Mohamed Waritay, a 27-year-old safety guard, stated he was voting for Bio due to his investments in training and healthcare. Bio “constructed a hospital in my village with 100 beds”, Waritay stated.
– Bio tipped to win in Sierra Leone-
Some 3.4 million persons are registered to vote, 52.4 per cent of whom are beneath 35 years outdated, in line with an electoral fee spokesman. Candidates should safe 55 per cent of legitimate votes for a first-round win. Voters can even elect members of parliament and native councils. Underneath a lately handed gender act, a 3rd of all candidates have to be girls. Many Sierra Leoneans vote based mostly on regional allegiances, as jobs and advantages are generally perceived to stream to areas whose politicians are in energy. Bio, a former coup chief within the Nineties, championed training and ladies’s rights in his first civilian time period.
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Kamara, a former overseas and finance minister, is going through a protracted trial over allegations that he misappropriated public funds as overseas minister, a case he says is politically motivated. A June 14 ballot by the Institute for Governance Reform (IGR) forecast that Bio would win 56 per cent of the vote, with 43 per cent for Kamara. One other ballot, carried out by the newspaper Sierra Eye and two native information teams, forecasts 38 per cent for the incumbent and 25 per cent for Kamara. The elections are being intently adopted in West Africa, a area lately dominated by coups and turmoil. Final August, riots left not less than 27 civilians and 6 cops lifeless.
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© Agence France-Presse
