EU observers flag voting issues that ‘stain’ Sierra Leone election

Issued on: 14/10/2023 – 09:03Modified: 14/10/2023 – 09:04

3 min

The 83-page report, which was offered to President Julius Maada Bio this week, notes that “voters’ belief within the credibility of [the] elections was undermined by lack of transparency throughout important levels of the method, notably through the tabulation course of, and by vital statistical inconsistencies within the outcomes”.

Bio was re-elected within the first spherical of voting on 24 June with round 56 % of the ballots, in response to outcomes launched by the electoral fee.

The opposition All Folks’s Congress has disputed the outcomes and refused to take part in native or nationwide authorities.

Chatting with journalists at a press convention to launch the report, chief observer Evin Incir stated that “political violence shrank the house of political participation”, including that members of the EU mission had witnessed the issue in a minimum of six districts.

She stated that additionally they noticed “disproportionate use of pressure by safety companies on a number of events”, including that “violence has no place in elections, neither right here in Sierra Leone nor anyplace else on the globe”.

The report added that “an impartial citizen observer group which voiced issues was threatened [forcing] its management to flee the nation, which is indicative of democratic backsliding”.

On the tabulation of outcomes, which has been one of the vital contentious points, Incir stated that the Electoral Fee of Sierra Leone (ECSL) had not allowed both citizen or EU observers to observe the essential course of. Nor did it publish the disaggregated consequence information, she stated.

“[This] lack of transparency and limitation on impartial scrutiny leaves house for doubt and stains an election,” Incir stated.

“The elections highlighted an pressing want for reforms to reinforce transparency and inclusion.”

Pressing suggestions

The EU report comprises 21 suggestions, together with the publication of the ultimate voter registry for each polling station, establishing a strong and clear outcomes processing system, and publishing complete outcomes and information for each polling station on-line. 

The EU additionally encourages defending candidates from violence, proscribing using state assets for political acquire and defending freedom of expression on-line and offline.

Incir famous, nonetheless, the elevated variety of ladies in workplace, who now make up 30 % of parliament, in addition to Sierra Leone’s first ever nationwide fact-checking initiative.

Political disaster

Responding to the EU report, Vice President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh accused it of political bias.

“In my opinion, the report is skewed extra in the direction of a political understanding of the elections relatively than a technical understanding,” he wrote on social media, claiming that the observers lacked proof for his or her assertions.

Requested in regards to the APC’s allegations in opposition to the ruling SLPP celebration, Incir insisted: “We don’t take any stand for any celebration. What we do is we observe.”

The APC has refused to take its seats in parliament or mount a authorized problem within the courts, insisting on exterior intervention to unravel the political disaster.

Groups from the Commonwealth, Ecowas and African Union are presently within the capital Freetown to mediate between the 2 principal events.

Conferences facilitated by the Impartial Fee for Peace and Nationwide Cohesion are additionally anticipated to start this weekend.