Three International elections Observer Missions, the European Union, the Carter Center the Commonwealth and African Union Observers have commended the voting process as being held in a peaceful environment but have decried the “un-level playing field.”
The European Union who were the first to release their preliminary reports made mention of “money and goods” being give out, and of compromising paramount chiefs to vote for them.
When asked to name which party the Chief EU Observer Richard Howittsaid “ those we observed actually parting with money were all APC.” He explained that as a European he did not want to look at the issue knowing fully well that the African context on these issues might be different, he said they approached the APC and they were told that these were traditional handouts. On the issue of compromising Paramount Chiefs, Howitt said “in relation to Paramount Chiefs, the concerns that we observed in relation to their neutrality of the Paramount Chiefs concerns principally the ruling party APC but not exclusively.”
He specifically pointed out that they (EU Observers)“observed the Council of Paramount Chiefs meeting here in Freetown making statements in favour of the governing party, and we observed one governing party representative putting pressure for a Paramount Chief to take a partisan position in Kenema.
The Carter centre also reiterated this point about money changing hands as did the Commonwealth Observer mission.
International Observers commended the whole process and said that the country has demonstrated their commitment to the democratic consolidation of their country.
During the elections, the Missions observed 95% of the 404 polling stations, with voting procedures being largely followed.
In their own findings, the Chief Head of Mission of EU, Richard Howitt disclosed that though there was fear of violence, the campaign process was calm and peaceful, freedom of speech and movement was respected but that the “election campaign calendar limited the rights of political parties to assemble freely.”
However the EU Observer Chief reiterated the issue of the unequal playing field which was evident throughout the campaign period saying, “although the ruling APC and opposition SLPP dominated the campaign, the APC clearly benefited from advantages of incumbency by making use of state resources. They also enjoyed more media coverage and clearly had more financial resources for campaign.”
Also Howitt disclosed, that the state Broadcaster (SLBC,) in key areas like news bulletin and elections, gave significant airtime in favour of the ruling government.
He added that the media monitoring group of EU EOM shows that from 17th 15th November “SLBC allocated double the amount of airtime devoted to APC led-government activities meaning that 61% of all coverage was devoted to the governing party.”
NEC they said also, failed to provide timely and adequate voter education at the Ward level and that they believe that significantly more civic voter education over substantially longer period was needed to guarantee the rights to an informed choices for voters.
According to former President of Zambia, Rupiah Banda of the Carter Center, in their findings they disclosed that there was a strong turn-out in the polling stations they visited and in most cases, it exceeded 75%. They also found out that the percentage of female candidates in the elections was low.
However Banda said that their observers noticed administrative shortcomings on Election Day and this includes late poll openings, shortage of election materials and problems due to long queues in the morning.
Notwithstanding he said these “shortfalls did not undermine the fundamental integrity of the electoral process, nor prevent registered voters from participating in the process.”
The Commonwealth Observer Mission headed by Ambassador OlaraOtunnu in their findings stated that the movement of vehicles on polling day contributed to the peaceful outcome of the elections, as most voters had to walk on foot to their polling stations since buses intended to transport voters were late and few.
This he said also has a negative impact as “this arrangement disadvantaged some sectors of the population, particularly the elderly and those with disability.”
The Observer mission further called on all Sierra Leoneans to ensure that the transparent and peaceful character of the electoral process witnessed, will continue throughout the rest of the counting and electoral process.
By Betty Milton
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