SIERRA LEONE: EU observer mission gives Sierra Leone elections a clean bill of health

EU observers say Sierra Leone's first elections since the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers have been successful. War-scarred Sierra Leone counted votes on Sunday (August 12) from its first elections since UN peacekeepers left two years ago; polls its people hope will speed recovery from an 11-year civil war. Enthusiastic voters turned out in huge numbers on Saturday (August 11) in polls billed as a test of stability, five years after the end of a conflict fuelled by diamonds and notorious for the hacking of limbs off civilians, sometimes by drugged child soldiers. Election officials have given the election a clean bill of health. "It has been quite successful. We were able to conduct the elections yesterday and we are now trying to retrieve results so that the tallying can start," said National Electoral Commission chairwoman Christiana Thorpe. European Union observers were equally satisfied with the way the electoral process had been conducted. "We have a good view, picture of what happened yesterday. We at this moment can be satisfied with the global participation and the global organisation," said Marie-Anne Isler Beguin, chief of the EU observer mission. With around 5 percent of votes counted, unofficial returns showed Ernest Bai Koroma of the opposition All People's Congress (APC) comfortably ahead in Freetown and the north of the former British colony, which contain about half its 2.6 million voters. On the streets of the dilapidated capital Freetown, Sierra Leoneans desperate for change huddled around radio handsets in shops and kiosks as local networks broadcast early returns from Saturday's presidential and parliamentary polls. Despite fears of violence, voting was generally peaceful with only minor scuffles after polling stations closed. "Well, the whole election process was really transparent because we did not see any problem, no violence, so I think it was really transparent," said Christian Foday, a student at Freetown University. In the war-shattered coastal capital Freetown on Sunday, people on the darkened streets clasped radios to their ears, awaiting results. "I see that the election went on free and fair and that is showing that the world is practising democracy, everybody went to the polls. Now we are waiting and listening keenly to the radio to know the winner of the elections," said trader Abdurrahman Bangura. Five years after the end of the diamond-fuelled war, which killed 50,000 people, Sierra Leone remains the second least developed nation on earth. Most people earn less than a dollar a day and lack basic amenities in the former British colony. In the presidential race, Ernest Bai Koroma of the opposition All People's Congress (APC) is expected to mount a strong challenge to Vice President Solomon Berewa, 69, candidate for the ruling Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP). Early returns showed the APC ahead in its stronghold, Freetown. "I am really satisfied , but to what I know, I believe that they have not called the final result, and the APC I heard from the radio that they have 44 percent and the SLPP have 38 percent and the PMDC have 13 percent so the process is still going on," said Sheku Usman Sesay, a student who'd been listening to the radio all morning. President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, re-elected on a wave of post-war euphoria in 2002, is stepping down as required by the constitution amid anger at corruption which many voters believe has drained off substantial foreign aid. Some 2.6 million people were registered to vote -- roughly half the population -- and many arrived at dawn to oversee the work of electoral staff due to concerns over fraud. If no presidential candidate wins more than 55 percent, a runoff will be held, probably in early September. The election commission will announce results as they come in but expects a meaningful trend to take several days to emerge.

ITN Source | August 13, 2007

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