The Presidential run-off poll in Sierra Leone scheduled for Tuesday March 27 has been postponed to Saturday, according to the country’s election commission hours after a high court gave permission for the run-off to go ahead.
Over the weekend there were reports of a delayed process after a court upheld a request by a member of the ruling party for an injunction on the election.
The court order on Saturday was to allow for an investigation into claims that first round of voting was characterized by electoral fraud.
The petitioners want their claim investigated before the run-off is held, a plea that has been upheld by the court.
But the high court on Monday lifted the temporary ban on the process making way for the elections on Tuesday, but the electoral commission said “logistical delays” have made it impossible for the vote to take place until Saturday.
— National Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (@NECsalone) March 26, 2018
The country’s election commission last week said there was the need for a run-off since none of the candidates obtained the needed number of votes required to be declared president.
The country’s main opposition however finished slightly ahead of the ruling party in the first round of voting.
Opposition leader Julius Maada Bio, from the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), obtained 43.3% of votes in the first round of polls, while Samura Kamara of the incumbent All Peoples Congress (APC) took 42.7%.
Third party candidate Kandeh Yumkella finished with just 6.9% of votes.
Current President Ernest Bai Koroma is stepping down after his maximum two terms in office and March 7 vote to replace him was largely peaceful.
Sierra Leone witnesses a brutal, diamond-fuelled civil war in the 1990s and the next president faces a huge task of trying to fix the West African country’s economy, still recovering from the war and recent Ebola epidemic.
Source: Africafeeds.com
