By: Hassan Osman Kargbo

Following the announcement of Dr Julius Maada Bio as the winner of the presidential election by the Chief Electoral Commissioner of Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL) Mohamed K. Konneh, a United States Senator, Jim Risch Ranking Member of the Senator Foreign Relations Committee, has expressed his dissatisfaction towards the electoral process in Sierra Leone.

The S.U Senator made this statement in a press release dated 30 June 2023.

According to him, he is concerned with the electoral process in Sierra Leone especially in the lack of transparency and responsiveness to the legitimate concerns of the voters, political parties and international partners.

“I remain concerned with the electoral process in Sierra Leone, particularly the lack of transparency and responsiveness to the legitimate concerns of voters, candidate, political parties, observers and international partners,” he said.

He continued that the continuous harassment, defaming and targeting of citizens, and other observers is undone and totally unacceptable in any county’s democracy.

He furthered that the ECSL supposed to be an independent and credible body that charged with the responsibility to conduct free and fair election in Sierra Leone, so, as such the Commission must release disaggregated polling stations results for Sierra Leoneans and the world at large to see.

“If the ECSL is an independent body concerned solely with conducting a free, fair, transparent, and credible election, then it must release disaggregated polling station results for Sierra Leoneans and the world to see,” he notes.

He called on President Julius Maada Bio as the announced winner and worriedly sworn-in candidate to show leadership in Electoral Transparency so that people will not have any doubts towards his legitimate of his victory.

“President Maada Bio, as the announced winner and sworn-in candidate, should share in the desire for electoral transparency so that his administration can move forward without looming doubts about the legitimate of his victory,” he added.

He empathized on the important of conducting free, fair and credible election at this crucial moment in Sierra Leone, and the essence of securing important opportunities from development partners.

“The conduct of free, fair and credible election was critical for Sierra Leone in its journey away from deadly conflict and towards securing important opportunities for the country’s development from partners, including the United States,” he said.

He said that they will be watching for confidence building measures from the Electoral Commission in the next couple of days in Sierra Leone.