The Chief Observer of the European Union Elections Observation Mission Richard Howitt has said in Freetown that he is happy that political party campaigns have “been largely peaceful.”
Howitt made this statement when he was speaking to journalists at the forecourt of the Bintumani Hotel Tuesday morning just before 50 additional short term elections observers were deployed in the 14 electoral districts in the country.
He recalled that “the European Union mission has been here since September, we observed the nomination process our long term observers have been in every district since September and throughout all the campaign.”
Now he said “the European Union mission (is) moving to full strength, nearly a hundred people deployed across this country, the most numerous and strongest observation force other than domestic observers and that means we will be present throughout the country in order to undertake our work of observing the elections.”
The EU Chief Observer pointed out that “we are in the crucial final week of this election,” and they “would be observing the last days of campaigning.”
Howitt somewhat grimly noted that “as we approach election day campaigning itself will of course get more intense and we would be observing that; we are also observing the delivery of election materials and we understand ofcourse the logistical challenges of doing that efficiently but it is very important for the integrity of the process.”
The nearly one hundred observers he said would be around some “500 polling centres on the day watching the voting hoping that it would be orderly it would be peaceful but it will also be fair and just.”
The EU Chief Observer promised that the EU Observers would be around “throughout the counting, the tally and right through to the announcement of the results and beyond” adding “we hope that our presence as the European Union observer mission would help the elections to be successful and help bring trust and confidence to the elections process.”
“We understand this is a very important moment for peace and democracy in Sierra Leone” Howitt said and continued “we understand our role coming from outside the European Union to support the country, its people and this election inorder to achieve. I am very happy that the election campaign has been largely peaceful so far and we wish Sierra Leone a peaceful a just and a credible election.”
Howitt and team left for Kono via Bo. On a brief stop by the UN helicopter in Bo Howitt engaged villagers who had been drawn to the Bo airfield by the sound of the UN Helicopter. The people said they were happy with the run up to elections but stressed that they do not want any violence during these elections. Asked whether they would accept the results the people said yes but that the observers should ask the All People’s Congress party because they are not likely to accept the elections results. The people also complained about the vehicular ban stressing that the 2007 elections were more hotly contested than the present and therefore they saw no reason for the ban on vehicular movement.
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