Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio was re-elected to serve a second term with 56.17 per cent of the vote, the head of the electoral commission said on Tuesday, prompting the runner-up to “categorically reject” the result.
Bio’s main challenger Samura Kamara, who came second with 41.16 per cent of the vote according to final results announced in Freetown, branded the result “not credible”.
“I categorically reject the outcome so announced by the electoral commission,” he said on Twitter.
Bio, 59, a former coup leader in the 1990s, has championed education and women’s rights in his first civilian term.
Vote tallying had already been disputed by Kamara’s All People’s Congress (APC), which condemned in a statement Monday an alleged lack of inclusiveness, transparency and responsibility by the electoral commission.
The party pointed to the lack of information about which polling stations or districts the ballots were coming from.
In a later statement, the party alleged “overvoting” in some areas and said it “continues to reject” the “fabricated results” and “reaffirms our victory”.
At a press conference Monday, European Union observers said a lack of transparency and communication by the electoral authority had led to mistrust in the electoral process.
The monitors said they witnessed violence at seven polling stations during voting hours and at three others during the closing and counting stages.
About 3.4 million people were registered to vote in Saturday’s election. Sierra Leoneans also voted in parliamentary and municipal elections Saturday.
