By Mabinty M. Kamara
The Chief Electoral Commissioner Mohamed K. Konneh ahead of the polls reassures voters that together with his team of commissioners, they will ensure this year’s election becomes the best in the history of the country’s electoral process.
The Election Chief was speaking at a press conference on the eve of the much anticipated elections on the 23rd June which was attended by various election observation groups across Africa and other parts of the world. “ECSL wants to assure the nation that it will conduct the election in a free, fair and credible manner and wants to assure all that this election will be one of the best ever conducted in this country,” he said.
He did not say when final results will be announced but said it will be announced within a shorter period than previous elections.
Addressing concerns related to the counting method, Konneh said that results have always been transmitted manually in Sierra Leone. However, he said the electronic transfer will be used as a backup to the manual system and that it was for administrative purposes.
He refutes claims by a senior member of the main opposition All People Congress (APC) party Alfred Peter Conteh that due to their latest protest, the commission has given them the much requested data they had demanded from the commission. He said they did not give out any other data to any political party apart from the one they had given to all political parties.
He assured all voters that their personal information was safe and cannot be given out to any political party.
Konneh commended political parties for adhering to the campaign rules against street rallies. He emphasized that he is the only responsible person to announce final results and that they will cancel results from any centre where violence will be reported that might have affected the process.
The last two weeks leading to the elections across the country were marred by violence, hate messages and fake news.
The Chief of staff at the office of National Security (ONS) Francis Langumba Keili said 16,507 (Sixteen thousand five hundred and seven) security personnel were deployed across the country. However, he said armed Security personnel would not be seen around polling stations, admitting that voters might be scared of high and armed security presence. That notwithstanding, he said backup plans and roaming personnel will be on standby.
He committed to ensure that necessary security is provided across the country.
This year’s election is said to be largely funded by the government of Sierra Leone. However, the Chief Electoral Commissioner said other development partners have supported some aspects. He mentioned a recent support by the Irish and the government of Canada through the United Nations Development Agency UNDP to pay 92,000 ad hoc staff.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (23/06/23)
