The National Electoral Commission (NEC) has after thorough investigations dismissed all 54 objections made mostly by candidates against their opponents. According to NEC official Momoh Kanneh, there were no objections against the seven Presidential candidates.
However of the 566 candidates for the Parliamentary elections 54 objections were entered.
These objections according to Kanneh centered mainly on the resignation of the candidates from government employment 12 months before the elections.
In most of these cases he explained the people who objected were not able to produce concrete facts like payment or salary vouchers and also they could not do so within the time frame stipulated by NEC (before 5pm on 7th July) for the objections to be heard.
As a result all 54 of the objections dealt with by the district returning officers were dismissed.
However 8 people decided to appeal and their appeals were heard by the Commissioners on Monday July 9th in Freetown, in the presence of the objectors and the candidates they objected against.
At the end seven of the objections were upheld giving credence to the decisions taken by the district returning officers who had earlier dismissed all seven objections.
However one decision was overturned which involved Constituency 45 of the Koinadugu district.
According to Mr Kanneh the candidate was said to have continued receiving salaries from the school where he was a teacher. NEC investigations revealed that the candidate had resigned and that somebody else had been collecting his salary without his knowledge. As a result the Commissioners overturned the decision, which had been taken by the District returning officer to disqualify the candidate.
“Infact the candidate had not filed a reply to the objection at the district level because he had left and come to Freetown to find his documents to prove his case,” explained Mr Kanneh
At the end the objectors were satisfied with the decision by the Commissioners and all went back to Koinadugu to continue their campaigns for the parliamentary seat.
Of the last eight appeals three had come from Moyamba, two from Kailahun, one from Kenema, one from Port Loko and one from Koinadugu.
All the 54 objections came from the three main political parties the SLPP, APC and PMDC.