2023 Election Is Done and Dusted! Sierra Leoneans Have Moved On
By: Lansana Fofanah.
After the June 2023 election which saw the current president Julius Maada Bio duly elected for the second term, several demands were made by the main opposition the All People’s Congress , key among their demands was the rerun of the election since they believed it was not fair.
To give the devil its due, the government through its development partners set up the Tripartite Committee comprising international partners, the ruling government and the APC to investigate not just the just concluded election, but previous ones and to proffer a proper electoral reforms for future ones.
The report of the Tripartite Committee, was fully endorsed by the then presidential candidate of the APC, Dr Samura Kamara and other parties.
While the government of President Bio remains committed in the implementation of the Tripartite report with so much progress made, another member of the All People’s Congress, Alfred Peter Conteh is now demanding the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone to publish the full data of the election.
“The deadline for my letter to the Commissioner of the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL) to publish the data of the announced result that made Julius Maada Bio the duly elected president of the Republic of Sierra Leone from the votes cast on June 24th, 2023 multi-tier election has passed. As promised, I will officially register, in person where applicable, the disapproval of most Sierra Leoneans about the lack of results and ask our International partners to join well-meaning Sierra Leoneans in asking the ECSL to publish the supporting ballot figures of the announced results. Unlike previous elections, the tallying of the results of the 24th of June 2023 was secluded; therefore, the representatives of the various contestants were kept in the dark. The results of the June 2023 elections were not reconciled transparently and acceptably as was done in past elections, and the reluctance of the ECSL Commissioner to make the supporting data available raises suspicion” Alfred Peter Conteh posted on his X page.
The very international partner including the African Union, Commonwealth or the United States which Alfred Peter Conteh might be calling on to join his fruitless crusade, have made significant moves which he is well aware of in consolidating our democracy.
Asking the ECSL to publish the data of an election that was held a year ago is his constitutional right, but whether the data is published or not, or whether someone is still hanging on the electoral justice demand, cannot influence or change the reality that President Bio is the duly elected president of Sierra Leone and the next election is slated for 2028.
The election is done and dusted and Sierra Leoneans have accepted the outcomeย andย movedย on.
