By Henry Kargbo
The Chief Electoral Commissioner and National Returning Officer, Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone, Mohamed Kenewui Konneh on Wednesday 21 June 2023, informed journalists that the ECSL printed three million three hundred and seventy-four thousand two hundred and fifty-eight (3,374,258) ballots sheets for the multi-tier elections slated for 24 June 2023.
Kanneh made this disclosure during a media update at the Freetown International Conference Centre, Bintumani, Aberdeen Freetown.
According to him, the commission reprinted a total of 19,612 voter cards for nominated candidates, relocated, photo less and transfer.
He added the commission on Monday also received ballot papers together with the Result Reconciliation Forms (RRFS) which will be deliver to all sixteen districts.
He informed that ECSL also printed tactile ballots papers to help guide the visually impaired voters.
He furthered that the commission has provided political parties with the final voter register which is completely different from what the commission has.
According to the ECSL Boss, the different between the two is the personal information of voters, adding that the commission conducted early voting for this year’s Hajj pilgrims with 70% of pilgrims cast their valid votes.
He informed that the photos of voters on the ID cards are photos obtained during the civil registration process and the 2017 voter registration.
He said they have concluded training for polling and tally staff and has already deployed sensitive and non-sensitive materials to their different offices across the sixteen districts.
He continued that regional tallying centres set up similarly to what were done in 2012 -2018 elections for regional tallying purposes.
Konneh added accreditations for both external and internal observers are on-going at ECSL headquarters, with special accreditation to cover the electoral activities at the Bintumani Conference Centre commencing soonest, owning to the fact that there will be watertight security before and after the polling to access the electoral hub, he told journalists.
He disclosed that 325 ballot papers were printed for the early voting of all Hajj pilgrims at Rolaan Enterprise, Freetown.
He assured that the electronic features quite different from the one printed in South Africa, noting that the commission has put system in place to ensure that the commission reduce the time frame for the announcement of results.
He cited the demands raised by the main opposition; All Peoples Congress (APC) has the potential to derail the electoral process that he said will result to a fresh start of the electoral activities.
