The Mano River Union Observation Mission yesterday congratulated all political parties and candidates as well as citizens for the tolerance, maturity and cooperation exhibited during the entire electoral process.
The MRU Observers also congratulated the chairperson and members of NEC for the professional and peaceful organization of the elections.
This declaration was made at a press conference held at their office, in Freetown.
Among those present at the press conference were members of the Mano River Union Election Observation Experts, Madame Haja Aminata Kamara from Guinea and the head of mission of the MRU Observation team, Mr. Inza Diomande from Cote d’Ivoire.
Reading the Press statement, Josiah Joekiah from NEC Liberia said that an Observation Mission was deployed in Sierra Leone from the 15th to the 18th November this year and these observers were drawn from members of the Mano River Union countries which are the Republic of Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire.
He went further to say that the deployment of an observation mission is also part of current efforts being made by the MRU in the framework of a sub- regional strategy on effective elections management, aimed at strengthening democracy in member states through the promotion and enhancement of collaboration amongst electoral commissions of the sub-region.
He also said that the MRU Observation Mission was deployed to assess the level of preparation for the elections taking into account security, the procurement of electoral materials and logistics, deployment of materials and polling staff, as well as the conduct of polls on Election day. Another key area of interest, to the mission, he added, was the management and declaration of results which is a critical stage in any given electoral process because it guarantees the credibility and integrity of the process.
He noted that the teams were deployed in three major regions of the country; the Bo-Kenema axis, in the south southeast, Port Loko in the North and both the rural and urban areas of the Western Area.
The mission covered a total of 27 polling centres; 10 in the Bo-Kenema region, eight in the Port Loko-Kambia region and nine in the Rural /Urban areas of Freetown.
There was security presence at many of the polling stations visited with the number of personnel ranging from two to four, which increased the confidence of voter turn-out to cast their votes. International and domestic observers, party and candidate agents, were generally present at the polling centres and they followed the process very closely without any form of coercion.
In conclusion, he said that the mission would like to call on everyone to accept the results of the elections for the continuity of peace and stability. The choice that the country has made to chose the ballot box over violence, is a clear manifestation of the commitment of the people of Sierra Leone to move forward and finally thanked MRU for sending an observation mission to Sierra Leone.
By Nancy Koroma
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