Julius Maada Bio leads the presidential election in Sierra Leone. This is evident from preliminary results of the election commission, AFP news agency reported on Monday evening. With 60 percent of the vote counted, Bio is on 55.86 percent of the vote, enough to win a second term as president in the first round. His main opponent, Samura Kamara, received more than 41 percent of the vote, according to the preliminary result. The final result is expected in the next 48 hours.
Bio campaigned for better education and women’s rights in the presidential and parliamentary elections. The 59-year-old former soldier also wants to stimulate agriculture in the West African country and reduce his country’s dependence on food imports. In 2018, Bio, then opposition leader, was elected president. Even then, Samura Kamar was his main opponent. In 1996, Bio also led the West African country as head of a military junta for more than two months. Then he ensured a democratic transfer of power.
The opposition disputes the preliminary results. “We completely reject the announcement of the head of the Election Commission with these falsified figures,” said Kamara’s All People’s Congress (APC). The European Union Monitoring Mission let know that the lack of ‘clear, up-to-date and complete information’ from the Electoral Commission has created uncertainty among the electorate. Also, the ‘disproportionate deployment’ of state security services has not helped the election process.
“We all have an interest in maintaining peace during and after the announcement of the results of these elections,” Bio said in a televised address, according to Reuters news agency. The EU observers stressed the importance of transparency of the process until the final results are announced.
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