By Saio Marrah
The African Union Election Observer Mission (AU EOM) to Sierra Leone’s 2023 General Elections has recommended in their preliminary statement that Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone should make provision for journalists working on Election Day to be among early voters.
They called on ECSL to make the same provision for security personnel and electoral officials working on the election day.
The mission’s statement presented by the head of the mission, Hailemariam Desalegne Boshe, at a press conference in Freetown noted the absence of provision for early voting for electoral staff, security agencies and other essential staff on duty.
They also called on the electoral commission to adopt continuous improvement and transparency in engagements with stakeholders to avoid mistrust and enhance confidence in the electoral process.
The ECSL was urged to provide gazzeted list of candidates before official campaign season, to allow them sufficient time to campaign.
This is because it noted that three hundred (300) candidates were gazzeted for the preliminary elections, but noted that the final list of candidates was only gazzeted on 20 June 2023 with only three days to the elections.
On issues relating to election preparedness, the AU mission said there were reports of voters and stakeholders not knowing on time about the early voting, hence only 231 voted and that the mission was informed that observers were not accredited to witness the early voting.
The mission also noted with concern that campaigns in some parts of the country were marred by politically- motivated violence spurred by the general mistrust especially between the two main political parties, noting that violent incidents saw the torching of party offices and physical attacks on persons, resulting in injuries and a reported death in Freetown.
After noting that several measures were put in place to ensure peace and security, he said the mission observed that elections took place amidst a politically tense environment and insecurity in some parts of the country, particularly in the strongholds of the two major political parties.
After noting that voting was largely peaceful, few polling stations experienced tension due to the late arrival of materials, whilst voting was slow partly due to inadequate training of personnel.
Essential materials like validating stamps, ballot papers, register of voters, ballot boxes, and host of others were missing in 15 percent of polling stations visited, the AU team observed.
While noting that ballot boxes were sealed properly in 94.5% of voting stations visited, the lids (covers) of the ballot boxes did not match with the boxes and were incorrectly sealed, citing specifically at SDA Primary School Sembehun polling station in Bo district.
The AU EOM comprised 50 short term observers from 26 African countries that witnessed key processes including the final phase of electoral campaigns, the Election Day and some post-election activities.
The observers were deployed in 12 districts and visited 219 polling stations.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (30/06/23)
