Freetown — With just a day to Sierra Leone’s general elections, the diplomatic community has called on all sides to exercise restraint and refrain from violence.
“We are concerned by reports of election-related violence and aggression across the country, in the run-up to the elections. We urge everyone to refrain from violence, respect the political choices of one another, and to reject the language of division and hate,” the statement issued by the United Kingdom, United States. Ireland, Germany and the European Union Delegations said.
Last month, Sierra Leone politicians including President Maada Bio and his main rival and former foreign minister Dr. Samura Kamara, and other presidential candidates signed a peace pledge, committing to peaceful campaigning and fair conduct in the elections and to resolving grievances through the courts.
While most of the campaigning has been peaceful, violence broke out around the headquarters of Sierra Leone’s main opposition party, the All People’s Congress (APC) in the Capital, Freetown, reportedly leading to the death of one person.
The diplomatic missions called on President Bio, Dr. Kamara and all political parties to abide by the peace pledge signed in May.
“This pledge should set the tone for all supporters in the weeks ahead. As representatives of the international community, we stand together as firm friends of Sierra Leone’s people. At the invitation of the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone, the deployment of national and international observer missions is now underway.
“In a spirit of partnership, we reiterate our Support to transparent, inclusive, credible and peaceful elections that reflect the will of the people,” the delegates said in the statement signed by Lisa Chesney MBE, British High Commissioner, David Reimer, U.S. Ambassador, Claire Buckley, Irish Ambassador and Jens Kraus-Massé, German Ambassador.
Saturday’s polls will mark the fifth presidential election since the end of Sierra Leone’s brutal 11-year civil war in which more than 50,000 were killed, hundreds maimed and hundreds of thousands displaced.
A total of 3,374,258 million Sierra Leoneans are expected to vote on Saturday, according to the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL).
Thirteen people are vying for the top job; however, experts say it will most likely be a tight race between incumbent President Maada Bio and the APC’s Samura Kamara.
This week’s vote will be a reverse of the 2018 presidential elections, when Bio – at the time representing the opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), – faced Kamara – from the then-ruling APC. Bio narrowly beat Kamara in a runoff by a margin of less than 5%.
While his administration has faced increasing criticism for the country’s debilitating economic conditions, with several violent anti-government protests taking place in recent months, analysts say that Bio, a former military head of state, has invested in improving education and taken steps to fight rampant corruption in the country.
The country ranked 110 on Transparency International’s index in 2022, having moved up from 129 when Bio took office.
Bio’s opponent, Kamara, a seasoned politician who served in various government positions including as foreign minister, is currently facing corruption charges of allegedly embezzling public funds from a renovation project in New York during his time as minister. His case is set to be heard in court by mid-July. Kamara is hoping to catapult support by promising to fix the country’s economic woes.
The election also comes amid a surge of regional political upheaval, with deadly clashes in Senegal as well as military coups in Burkina Faso and Mali. Also, with neighboring Liberia poised to go to the polls later in October this year, analysts say a peaceful vote is of greater importance.
It is closely being monitored by several regional and international elections observation groups including ECOWAS, MRU and the Commonwealth have already deployed its observation missions.