Sierra Leoneans will vote this Saturday, June 24th, for the legislative, municipal, and presidential elections. Incumbent Julius Maada Bio of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) is seeking a second term against Samura Kamara of the opposition All People’s Congress (APC) party. Campaigning, marred by violence, has just ended.
Activists of the opposition APC party demonstrated outside their headquarters yesterday, denouncing the opacity of the electoral process and demanding the resignation of the president of the Electoral Commission, Mohamed Konneh, considered too close to power. The campaign ended this Thursday, June 22nd, in Freetown, in a tense climate.
The demonstration was violently repressed, according to APC spokesman Sidi Yayah Tunis, who implicated “members of the presidential guard”. “People were killed, and the APC office received tear gas canisters and live ammunition”. The opposition party announced two deaths, but the police say they have not identified any.
Several international bodies, including ECOWAS, the African Union, and the Commonwealth, have sent representatives to Freetown to observe the electoral process. Mohamed Rahman Swaray of the presidential party SLPP recognizes “sporadic episodes of violence” during the campaign but promises that all the conditions are met for credible and peaceful elections.
The campaign was completed, says analyst Benjamin Olagboye, author of a thesis on Sierra Leone, by the commitments of the government and the Electoral Commission. But in the streets of Freetown, voter enthusiasm is moderate. The discussions revolve less on politics than on the price of foodstuffs, while inflation has now reached 43%.
The Electoral Commission has announced that it will hold a “peace march” tomorrow during the day of electoral silence, to encourage activists from all parties to go and vote peacefully on Saturday.