By Politico staff writer
The President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission, Dr Omar Alieu Touray, has approved for the deployment of 95 Election Observers for the 24th of June multi-tier elections in Sierra Leone.
Some will perform Long-Term observation of the process while it will be short term for others.
The planned deployment was made known to the public through a press release by the Commission dated 15th June, 2023.
IT is said to be in line with provisions of Articles of the regional Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance on assistance to Member States holding elections.
According to the release, as part of the organization of these presidential and parliamentary elections, ECOWAS has also provided Sierra Leone with US$500,000 (five hundred thousand dollars) in financial support.
It noted that the ECOWAS Election Observation Mission will be led by former ECOWAS Commission President and ex-Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of the UN Office in West Africa and the Sahei, Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, with former ECOWAS Representative in Liberia and Guinea-Bissau, Ambassador Ansumana Ceesay to serve as Deputy Head of Mission.
The Mission is also said to be assisted by a Technical Team to be led by ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Ambassador Abdel-Fatau Musah. The release stated that the deployment of the Election Observation Mission is a follow-up to the joint ECOWAS and African Union pre-election fact-finding Mission sent to Sierra Leone from 12th to 14th April 2023.
It added that fifteen Long-term Observers (LTOs) have been deployed to the country from 15th June, 2023 and that the team comprises experts in election administration, gender, conflict management, security, legal and constitutional issues, and the media.
The release went on to state that from 20th June, the LTOs will be joined by 80 Short Term Observers STOs drawn from the ECOWAS Permanent Representatives’ Committee, Member States’ Foreign Affairs Ministries and Electoral Management Bodies, the ECOWAS Council of the Wise, Community institutions that include Parliament and Court of Justice, Civil Society Organizations, the Media, and election observers.
It explained that thirteen candidates from 17 registered parties are vying for the Sierra Leone Presidency, including incumbent President Julius Maada Bio, who is seeking re-election on the platform of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) and Dr. Samura Mathew Wilson Kamara for the opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) party.
The SLPP defeated the then APC in the last Presidential election in 2018.
However, the release established that some 135 (one hundred and thirty five) Parliamentary and 493 (four hundred and ninety three) Local Council seats will also be in contention on 24th June.
It further explained that the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL) Registered 3,374,258 (three million, three hundred and seventy four thousand, two hundred and fifty eight) voters for the 2023 elections out of an estimated population of 8.7 million. Voting is to take place in 11,832 (eleven thousand, eight hundred and thirty two) polling stations within 3,630 (three thousand, six hundred and thirty) polling Centres across the 16 electoral districts nationwide, from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm.
ECOWAS emanated from a Treaty that is signed by 15 West African Heads of State and Government on the 28th May 1975 in Lagos, Nigeria.
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