Sierra Leone’s elections body, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) on Sunday released 75% percent of the presidential poll result. The main opposition party, the Sierra Leone People’s party SLPP candidate Julius Maada is now ahead with a narrow lead over the candidate of the ruling party, All People’s Congress, Samura Wilson Kamara.
This is the first time that the opposition has taken the lead since official results were first released by the electoral commission.
The electoral commission chair Mohameed Conteh reassured Sierra Leoneans that everything is being done to safeguard the choice they made on March 7. He also mentioned that vote recounts and investigations against some electoral officials are underway in some districts.
“We have been in regular dialogue with political parties, since long before the election; and we have remained in contact and responded promptly to each of their concerns. We believe that trust is paramount.”
He added that the process was built into the system to ensure integrity and accuracy of the final result.
“NEC will take any necessary step to ensure accuracy of results and to safeguard votes legitimately cast by Sierra Leoneans on 7th March. “
“NEC commissioners are also aware of allegations against our own staff and we take these allegations very seriously. “
An electoral observer coalition had soon after the vote projected the likelihood of a run-off from their use of the Parallel Voter Tabulation (PVT) collation technology.
A run-off presidential election between the first and second placed candidates is held two weeks after the certification of the results, unless a candidate wins 55% in the first round.
