Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio was sworn-in on Tuesday evening, shortly after he was declared winner of Saturday’s disputed presidential election.
The results of the June 24 presidential contest announced by the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone gave the incumbent 56.17 percent of the total votes cast, narrowly avoiding a run-off with his closest challenger Dr Samura Kamara of the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC).
Kamara got 41.16 percent of the votes, according to the ECSL. He rejected the result immediately after its announcement.
Bio, who ran on the ticket of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), took oath of office presided over by Chief Justice Babatunde Edwards in the well of Parliament, kickstarting his second and final five-year term.
“This has been a peaceful electoral process that has produced an incontestable result that truly reflects the will of the people,” Bio said after taken the oath of office.
He added: “Today, with the successful conduct of the 2023 multi-tier elections, Sierra Leone stands tall among young democracies for our efforts in consolidating our democratic gains.”
The election was marred by reports of delays and sporadic violence in some parts of the country, amid concerns from the opposition of ballot stuffing, among others alleged irregularities.
Bio was challenged by 12 candidates. But the race was mostly between him and Kamara, a former Foreign Minister.
“It is a sad day for our beloved country. It is a frontal attack on our fledgling democracy. These results are not credible and I categorically reject the outcome so announced by the electoral commission,” Kamara said in a statement issued immediately after the results were announced.
The APC had accused the electoral commission of failing to provide a level playing field to ensure free, fair and credible elections.
Those concerns grew during counting and tallying of the ballots. The opposition cited lack of transparency in the tabulation of votes.
The issue of transparency also featured prominently in the reports of international observer groups like the EU, the Commonwealth and the Carter Center.
“Several delays and shortcomings at key stages of the electoral process occurred and were not comprehensively explained to the public, reducing confidence in the process,” Evin Incir, the Chef EU Elections Observer, said on Monday, after the announcement of partial results that put Bio in the lead.
The EUEOM, in its preliminary reports, also cited intimidation of voters and heavy-handed response of security forces against opposition supporters. It also noted that the incumbent party had an unfair advantage in its access to state resources used during campaigning, among others.
The issue of lack of transparency was also echoed by the Commonwealth Observer Group. Its head, former Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said a “lack of clarity around the actual procedure for tallying” had led to the charges of lack of transparency.
But the process got a clean bill of health from the African observation missions – the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The heads of the two missions said while there were some hitches that characterized the process, it was generally free and fair.
“Overall, AUEOM observed that elections were conducted in a generally peaceful, transparent and credible manner, up to the counting on polling day, despite reported incidents of violence particularly during the pre-election period,” said former Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailimariam Desalegn, who headed the AU Observer mission.
His ECOWAS counterpart, Mohamed Ibn Chambers, said: “The Mission notes that despite some early challenges, polling generally proceeded smoothly and in a largely peaceful atmosphere, and eligible voters were able to freely participate in the process.”
But it’s not only the international observers who were concerned about the process leading to the outcome.
The National Elections Watch, a coalition of local civil society organizations and NGOs which monitors elections in the country, said on Tuesday that its data showed that none of the two leading candidates got enough votes to avoid a run-off.
By law, a candidate must have at least 55 percent of total votes count to be declared winner of the presidential race.
Meanwhile, Chief Electoral Commissioner, Mohamed Konneh said that aggrieved parties seeking to challenge the results in court have seven days to do so as per the constitution.
