Sierra Leone’s election commission has declared incumbent Julius Maada Bio has been declared the winner of the country’s tense presidential election, following a process disputed by the main opposition party.
Commission chief Mohamed Kenewui Konneh said on Tuesday June 27, that Bio was re-elected with 56.17 percent of Saturday’s vote. His top challenger Samura Kamara, of the All People’s Congress (APC), came second with 41.16 percent.
Over 2.8 million votes were cast in Saturday’s poll, which saw incumbent Julius Maada Bio re-elected as president of the West African country. The 59-year-old, who leads the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), was sworn in at Freetown’s State House about an hour later.
Vote tallying had already been disputed by the APC, which condemned in a statement on Monday, June 26, an alleged lack of inclusiveness, transparency and responsibility by the electoral commission.
In the run-up to the vote, the APC had made complaints about the electoral commission. However, the commission insisted that it had mechanisms in place to ensure a fair vote.
The presidential, parliamentary and local council elections came at the end of a campaign marred by several violent incidents.
The election is the fifth since Sierra Leone’s 11-year civil war officially ended in 2002. It was a particularly brutal conflict, with 50,000 deaths and thousands of people estimated to have had their arms and limbs amputated.
But since then the country has had a tradition of largely peaceful, free and credible elections, according to Marcella Samba Sesay, chairperson of the non-governmental organisation National Elections Watch.