Sierra Leone’s President Re-Elected, Barely Avoiding a Runoff

President Julius Maada Bio gained re-election within the West African nation of Sierra Leone on Tuesday, a end result rejected by his fundamental opponent and questioned by some observers who cited an absence of transparency within the vote tallying.

Mr. Bio took 56 p.c of the vote, in response to the nation’s electoral fee, simply clearing the edge of 55 p.c required to keep away from the runoff that the majority analysts had predicted. Samura Kamara, the main opposition candidate, completed second with 41 p.c of the vote.

Mr. Bio was shortly sworn in — simply an hour after the official outcomes have been introduced. His supporters thronged the streets of Freetown, the capital, carrying inexperienced T-shirts, his occasion’s colour, and chanting his identify.

Mr. Kamara, in a tweet, known as the outcomes “NOT credible” and “a frontal assault on our fledgling democracy,” however didn’t say how he may reply.

The election, held on Saturday, was a rematch of the 2018 contest, during which Mr. Bio defeated Mr. Kamara, an economist and former authorities minister, by a decent margin.

However Sierra Leone finds itself in a extra dire scenario than 5 years in the past, grappling with file ranges of inflation and unemployment and a few of the highest ranges of meals insecurity in West Africa.

Mr. Bio, 59, known as on Sierra Leoneans to present him 5 extra years to pursue an schooling initiative that has despatched a further a million kids to high school. However he has additionally been accused of overseeing violent repression of protests, together with final summer season when greater than two dozen folks died in demonstrations towards rising costs.

Mr. Bio is a former army officer who took half in two coups throughout Sierra Leone’s civil battle within the Nineteen Nineties. He briefly dominated the nation in 1996 as the top of a army junta, however handed energy to an elected president months later.

Claiming victory on Tuesday, Mr. Bio wrote on Twitter: “Although our tongues, tribes and political persuasions may differ, we’re united in our want to see the land that we love, Sierra Leone, prosper.”

Voter turnout seemed to be excessive at round 77 p.c, in response to the electoral fee. Over 3.3 million voters had registered to vote within the nation of 8.4 million, most of them beneath age 35.

“Participation is often very excessive as a result of younger folks need change,” stated Ishmael Beah, a Sierra Leonean author who’s crucial of Mr. Bio’s authorities. “That’s, till they understand that nothing goes to alter.”

The voting on Saturday was largely peaceable, however tensions rose on Sunday when safety forces surrounded the headquarters of Mr. Kamara’s occasion, the All Individuals’s Congress, as supporters have been celebrating native outcomes. (The vote on Saturday was additionally for native and parliamentary officers.)

The police fired tear fuel and a girl was shot useless. Get together officers have accused safety forces of firing reside rounds, which the top of the Sierra Leonean police has denied.

On Monday, each Mr. Kamara’s and Mr. Bio’s events had predicted a victory, elevating fears of additional tensions when the ultimate outcomes have been launched. As of Tuesday night, most of Sierra Leone remained calm.

However worldwide election observers have voiced issues concerning the lack of transparency through the counting course of.

Nationwide Election Watch, an impartial monitoring physique, had stated earlier on Tuesday that no candidate would win 55 p.c of the vote within the first spherical, primarily based on the information it had collected and which it stated matched provisional outcomes launched by the nation’s electoral fee on Monday.

In keeping with the official outcomes, nevertheless, greater than 1.56 million folks voted for Mr. Bio — barely above the 55 p.c threshold.

Election observers from the Carter Middle famous a number of voting irregularities, together with damaged seals and open poll containers that ought to have been closed, stated Cameron R. Hume, a former U.S. ambassador and the top of the middle’s commentary mission.

“The voting went fairly effectively — folks confirmed up, they wished to vote they usually wished their voice to be heard,” Mr. Hume stated in a phone interview from Freetown.

However that couldn’t be stated of the rely of ballots, Mr. Hume added. “There’s lots of questions left on the desk.”

Joseph Johnson contributed reporting from Freetown, Sierra Leone.