Sierra Leone police quash clashes after voting ends
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — Riot police put down skirmishes Wednesday in Sierra Leone’s capital as political tensions mounted after authorities visited the office of the leading opposition candidate.
At least one person was treated for stab wounds following the melee that erupted after an SLPP opposition spokesman said police had come to search the party’s offices without a warrant.
Their candidate, Julius Maada Bio, the man who was defeated in the 2012 election, later went on live television to criticize the move.
“Counting has started and I have phones and laptops which I am using to tally the results of the counting,” he said. “I have established a tallying center in my office which is not against the law of this country. This is a legitimate affair.”
A spokesman for the current president from the ruling APC party denied that authorities were trying to foment unrest.
“The police and the rule of law stay in place,” Abdulai Bayratay later said on the same network. “The APC is not trying to compromise the peace of this country.”
Wednesday’s vote is the fourth since Sierra Leone’s brutal civil war ended in 2002, and the last election in 2012 was largely peaceful.
The presidential field was a crowded one with 16 candidates. The winner will be tasked with helping the country to continue to rebuild after the devastating 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic. The capital also was battered by a deadly mudslide in August that claimed about 1,000 lives.
“I have come to vote for a president who I believe will make a difference to the progress of the country in every aspect of its development,” said Dr. John Konteh, who waited more than hours in line to cast his ballot Wednesday. “I have come to vote for the continuation of what the present government has done,” he said.
Aminata Lukulay, a school teacher who waited in line for three hours, said “as a Sierra Leonean it is my right to vote and I am voting for change in terms of the educational system, job opportunities, and development of the country as a whole.”
Outgoing President Ernest Bai Koroma has said “this is the time for people to vote responsibly and I am willing to hand over to whoever is elected to succeed me.”
The front-runners are Samura Kamara, the incumbent’s pick as successor, and Julius Maada Bio, the man who was defeated in the 2012 election.
The race most likely will go to a second round later in March as observers say it’s unlikely any one candidate will receive 55 percent of the vote.
The incumbent Koroma has served two terms and is barred by the constitution from running again.
Kamara, his hand-picked successor, is largely seen as a favorite after emerging from a crowded field of more than two dozen seeking the ruling APC party’s nomination. He has served as Sierra Leone’s foreign minister, finance minister, as well as governor of the Central Bank of Sierra Leone.
His main challenger is expected to be 53-year-old Bio of the SLPP, a former military leader who received 38 percent of the vote in 2012. Bio ruled Sierra Leone for three months in 1996 after having overthrown his former boss and friend before returning the country to civilian rule.