Sierra Leone’s president wins re-election

Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio was declared to have won re-election on Tuesday, but his main challenger has rejected the results due to what he says was a lack of transparency in the vote tallying. 

Chief Electoral Commissioner Mohamed Kenewui Konneh said on Tuesday that Bio had been re-elected with 56.17% of Saturday’s vote, clearing the threshold of 55% to avoid a runoff. His main opponent, Samura Kamara, came second with 41.16%. 

Kamara tweeted on Tuesday that the results were “NOT credible” and “a frontal attack on our fledgling democracy.” 

Some of the population, however, told RT that they are satisfied with Bio’s re-election, as they believe that under his rule free quality education was provided, infrastructure developed, and that corruption is being combatted 

The election didn’t proceed without violence, however. Kamara accused government forces of using live bullets and tear gas at his party’s headquarters to disperse supporters gathered outside. A woman was reportedly killed in the incident. 

According to the Electoral Commission, voter turnout came in at about 77%. However, international election observers expressed concern about the lack of transparency in the vote-count process. 

Several voting irregularities were noted, including open ballot boxes that should have been closed and broken seals, Cameron Hume, a former US ambassador and head of the Carter Center observation mission, said in a telephone interview from Freetown. 

Valnora Edwin, a political analyst from Sierra Leone, told RT on Wednesday that in Sierra Leone “the electoral process was heavily funded by external partners” and that Western powers are primarily interested in Africa because of its natural resources. For those reasons “Western countries are always interested in the outcome of African countries.”