By Mustapha Sesay
The European Union chief election observer, Richard Howitt has released the Mission’s final report on the 17 November elections noting that although the processes were credible there was no level playing field for political actors. He told journalists at their Aberdeen office in Freetown that the release of their final report offered a comprehensive analysis of all aspects of the Sierra Leonean electoral process. “Despite the credibility of the elections and the independence and impartiality of the National Electoral Commission throughout the process, the report underlined some shortcomings like the use of state resources by the ruling party and the unbalanced electoral coverage by the public broadcaster resulting in an unequal playing field throughout the campaign period,” he claimed. Although they concluded that the integrity of the tallying process was sufficiently protected in the vast majority of cases, there were inadequacies also detected during the tallying process, mainly in relation to unclear procedures for clearing Result Reconciliation Forms from the quarantined ones, and for polling station results to be recounted. Mr. Howitt said the legal framework, the work of electoral administration, voter registration, candidates’ nominations, the electoral campaigns, the role of the media, voting, counting and tallying processes and the resolutions of electoral complaints and appeals were also addressed in the report. The report also proffered a seven-point recommendation to improve on future electoral processes in the country including the strengthening of civic and voter education with special focus on uneducated voters in areas with no or limited access to electronic media; greater involvement of civil society organisations, adoption and publication of detailed tally centre procedures; clearly stipulating the steps to be taken in the case of quarantined results at least six months in advance of any election event. It also recommends the promotion of the participation of women in public life through adoption of legislation requiring affirmative action around gender policies within parties; the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation to make all efforts to fulfill its obligations as a public service broadcaster and abide by the provisions of the Act and the media code of practice regarding fair and balanced electoral coverage. He said the right of prisoners to vote, especially those on remand, was also to be looked into. The EU chief election observer pointed out that “the challenge remains for elections here to be more open and inclusive, and to win greater confidence amongst the political parties but also within the wider population.” He said the future for democracy in the country was in the hands of organizations and the people of Sierra Leone, and hoped that the EU-EOM suggestions would be of service to building a peaceful and democratic future for all Sierra Leoneans. Meanwhile, NEC’s chief of media relations, Albert Massaquoi told Politico that it was too early to comment but said that once they were done reading the full report they might come out with a statement.
