Vote counting has begun following a tense presidential election in Sierra Leone during the weekend on Monday, June 26.
The election had been marred by violence and the death of an opposition party volunteer. International observers have been vocal about the lack of transparency in the tallying of ballots.
The provisional results of the elections are expected to be announced within 48 hours of Saturday’s vote, an election in which incumbent President Julius Maada Bio had run for a second term, in-spite of the public’s frustration over the increasing economic hardship in the West African country.
Samuel Kamara, the All People’s Congress, APC, candidate is Bio’s main opposition in race for the presidential seat.
According to police reports, tear gas been fired at the headquarters of the APC, in Freetown on Sunday after a crowd gathered there had turned unruly. A dead body of a woman had been found inside the headquarters building but police officials could not proffer reasons as to her death.
An APC spokesperson has however revealed that the deceased had been a party volunteer as at the time of her death.
The European Union’s election observation mission has meanwhile, stated that it was worried about the ‘extremely divided political environment’ in the country and has , and has demanded for transparency in the vote-counting so as to foster trust-building in the election process.
The present situation in Sierra Leone is not too different from the occurrences that happened in the Nigerian political scene a few months back.
As there is already an unrest in the country, it could mean that the election process wasn’t as fair as reports have been declaring.
This means that if care isn’t taken, rioting may descend on the country as a a result of the divided choice in the best leader for the country, especially if the popular choice loses.
