By Ebi Kesiena
Incumbent Sierra Leone President, Julius Maada Bio has won re-election in the West African nation on Tuesday with 56.17% to serve a second term.
The head of the electoral commission stated this on Tuesday amid concerns over lack of transparency in the vote tallying and sporadic episodes of violence
According to final results announced in Freetown by Commission Chief Mohamed Kenewui Konneh, his main opponent Samura Kamara came second with 41.16% of the vote.
Vote tallying had already been disputed by the opposition All People’s Congress (APC), which condemned in a statement Monday an alleged lack of inclusiveness, transparency and responsibility by the electoral commission.
The party pointed to the lack of information about which polling stations or districts the ballots were coming from.
It had said it “will not accept these fake and cooked up results.”
In a follow-up statement, it alleged “overvoting” in some areas and said the party “continues to reject” the “fabricated results” and “reaffirms our victory.”
The election, held on Saturday, was a rematch of the 2018 contest, in which Mr. Bio defeated Mr. Kamara, an economist and former government minister, by a tight margin.
During a Monday evening press conference, European Union observers said a lack of transparency and communication by the electoral authority had led to mistrust in the electoral process.
The monitors said they witnessed violence at seven polling stations during voting hours and at three others during the closing and counting stages.
