The headquarters of Sierra Leone’s primary opposition party, the All People’s Congress (APC), has been encircled by military forces as the nation awaits the results of its presidential election. APC’s leader, Samura Kamara, has alleged the use of live ammunition, which was reportedly fired into the building during his press conference, an act he has labelled an assassination attempt. The premises was further enveloped in tear gas, although the reasons for the military’s deployment remain unclear.
There has been no comment from police forces regarding this incident.
The opposition is currently attempting to displace President Julius Maada Bio, who is bidding for a second term in office. Saturday’s election process was marred by sporadic violence against election officials, following a period of heightened tension during the campaign. The vote counting procedure, which involves summing up ballot results from each polling unit at a regional level, is currently ongoing in Freetown, Bo, Kenema, Makeni, and Port Loko, the commission has revealed.
Sierra Leoneans participated in the presidential, parliamentary, and local elections on Saturday, although many polling stations in the capital opened late. The voting ended officially at 11:30 pm (2330 GMT) on Saturday, according to chief electoral commissioner, Mohamed Konneh, with full results expected within 48 hours of closing.
Describing it as “one of the best election days” in recent history at a press conference on Sunday, Konneh, however, faced accusations from Samura Kamara, the APC’s presidential candidate. Kamara claimed the electoral commission was making it “impossible for us and other political parties to compare, reconcile and verify” the tallying of votes.
Over the past weeks, the APC has accused the electoral commission of bias towards the ruling party, leading to speculation that it may be preparing for a court challenge of the election results—a strategy used by both parties in the past. However, Konneh maintained that the party’s demands were “practically impossible” due to the sheer scale of the vote counting process.
Despite reports from the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding, an observer group, and the electoral commission that the voting was “relatively peaceful”, Konneh outlined incidents on Sunday where polling staff had reportedly been assaulted.
In addition, Prince Alex Harding, the chairman of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), mentioned several alleged cases of intimidation or violence against their agents. These allegations were mirrored by senior APC members, who claimed that there had been instances of violence near various polling centres in Freetown on Saturday evening.
The head of the Office of National Security, Abdulai Caulker, stated during a press conference that he was unaware of the alleged incidents.
Furthermore, the APC has reported that its supporters experienced attacks while campaigning in rural regions of the country.
Image Credit: AP Photo/TJ Bade
