By Sorie Sudan Sesay, Freetown.
With provisional results coming so far from the
National Electoral Commission (NEC), as at yesterday,
August 14th, 2007, it is very likely that there will
be no run-off in the Presidential and Parliamentary
elections.
The results put the opposition All People Congress
(APC) party ahead with 204,770 votes, followed in
second place by the ruling Sierra Leone People Party
(SLPP) with 106,887 votes. The results represent forty
percent of the votes cast on polling day.The National Electoral Commission (NEC) is however still counting and tallying votes.
Earlier, Dr. Christiana Thorpe, in her statement,
stated that the results announced by NEC did not
represent all the districts as only the results
from some of the stations have gone through processing in
the Bombali District.
The results for 65 stations announced last Monday,
August 13th, 2007, are as follows: Koroma (APC) polled
18,563, Turay (CPP) polled 292, Jalloh (NDA) polled
110, Conteh (PLP) polled 37, Margai (PMDC) polled 201,
Berewa (SLPP) polled 1,415 and Karim (UNPP) polled 37.
In the Port Loko District, results for 74 stations
were announced but results for 454 stations were still
to be announced.
The results were as follows for the 74 stations in
Port Loko District representing 22,611 votes: Koroma
(APC) polled 17,621, Turay (CPP) 550, Jalloh (NDA)
232, Conteh (PLP) 99, Margai (PMDC) 295, Berewa (SLPP)
2,095 and Karim (UNPP) 112.
Meanwhile, results announced by the Independent Radio
Network (IRN), though not official show that the
opposition won all 21 seats in the Western Area and
made significant impact in the eastern and some parts
of the Southern Province as well as its strongholds in
the north. This has been hotly contested by the ruling SLPP who say it’s too early for the APC to jubilate.They(SLPP) claim to have won some seats in the Western Area.
Political newcomers, the People’s Movement for Democratic
Change (PMDC) caused a major upset for the ruling
party in its strongholds, thus paving the way for the
APC to have a comfortable lead in the results which
will eventually rule out any possibility for a
run-off.
Briefing the press last Tuesday at the British Council
conference hall in Freetown, the NEC Chairperson Dr.
Christiana Thorpe acknowledged that the voting process
last Saturday has been widely acclaimed by national
and international observers. This, she said, can be
largely credited to the desire of Sierra Leoneans to
participate in free and fair elections.However, the process itself had been plagued with irregualrities.
Irregularities:
The credibility of the National Electoral Commission
(NEC) was last Monday put at stake when hundreds of
voting materials were displayed before a press
conference conveyed by the commission.
Citizen Radio FM 103.7 reporter Ansumana Kumba Kanu,
displayed the voting materials in the presence of
journalists and both international and local
observers.
The materials were brought to the radio station’s Kissy
Mess Mess office by irate youths after they discovered
them being secretly kept in the offices of the
Principal of the Muslim Congress Secondary School,
Kissy Mess Mess. He is said to be an executive member of the
ruling party.
All the materials were marked in favour of the SLPP
Presidential candidate Solomon Berewa. The youths, not
comfortable with the police and the NEC officials
present at the school where voting was taking place,
decided to take the materials to the radio station.
They believe the station is the safest place where the
materials could be brought especially against the
background of the fact that the Citizen Radio Station,
had been doing live coverage of events in the eastern
part of the city.
The reporter had earlier informed NEC at a press
conference held the previous day but was challenged
to substantiate his claims with documentary evidence.
His display of the materials at a press conference
therefore took everybody by storm.
The school’s principal since election day had been in
hiding.
In a related development, the School Principal of the
Ahmadiyya Muslim Secondary School, Abdul Karim Sesay,
is also in hiding after irate youths went on the
rampage following the discovery of boxes loaded with
voting materials in a classroom at his school’s
compound.
The incident caused a major uproar between civilian
voters and the police who were called upon to maintain order.
Photo: APC leader Ernest Bai Koroma.
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