The Chief Electoral Commissioner Christiana Thorpe has in her “close of polling day” press release reported alleged instances of election malpractice in the November 17th polls in Freetown.
In her broadcast over national television Ms Thorpe said “Polling was also disrupted in Ward 392 at the Metropolitan Funeral Home centre and Ward 394 at the Malamah Comprehensive in the Western Urban district because of electoral malpractices.”
She further stated that “Arrests have been made and these persons are helping the Sierra Leone Police in its investigations.”
A little later in the evening, the opposition candidate Julius Maada Bio made a statement also alleging that “in addition to the discrepancies identified by the NEC Chair and the National Elections Watch, it has come to the attention of the party that the factors that have affected the polling in Freetown are more widespread and a lot more serious than has been reported by NEC.”
He went on “We have ample evidence and vital information to substantiate a number of incidents bordering on irregularities that violate the Electoral Code and which has the potential to affect the final outcome of these elections.”
Bio categorically stated, “There are evidence of blatant ballot stuffing in several polling centres especially in the Northern region, Kono and Freetown with full complicity of NEC staff. In most of these cases at the time of counting the ballots, security officers at the polling stations drove our (SLPP) agents and prevented them from observing the process and collating results. Evidently most of the results announced do not reflect actual votes cast. There are videos of NEC staff ensuring that voters cast their ballots for Ernest Koroma. This act was also widespread in the Northern Province.”
The National Elections Watch (NEW) also raised some concerns in the first statement after the close of polling. NEW said they were concerned about “certain irregularities, in particular insufficient ballots available and in an incident in Koinadugu where a missing Final Voter Registration List was reconstituted on the spot.”
International observers have however largely commended the voting as being “peaceful.”
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