Presidential run-off poll in Sierra Leone scheduled for March 27 has been delayed after a court upheld a request by a member of the ruling party for an injunction on the process.
The court order was made on Saturday 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.
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
