By Alusine Fullah
The United States Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Bryan David Hunt has recently made comment about the re-run of the controversial June 24 2023 presidential elections. Ambassador Hunt made this statement on a radio breakfast show, ‘Good Morning Salone’, aired by Radio Democracy, FM 98.1. The issue of re-run or no re-run has been clamouring for the past months. When he was asked by one of the presenters whether it will be possible for a re-run of the June 24 2023 presidential elections, he replied that the possibility for a re-run of the June 24 2023 presidential/general elections is unrealistic. The United States diplomat said: The re-run of June 24 2023 elections has come up multiple times for multiple courters in the media. There is no magic for a re-run of elections to do for a couple of reasons. First, the time frame in which the electoral results could be challenged has long expired. The main opposition All People’s Congress – APC party pursued other means instead of court action. A court challenge is the only way that could look at the invalidation of electoral results. So, I don’t think that is a realistic scenario to talk about a re-run of electoral elections. Whatever the committee recommends has to be realistic rather than being implementable…
General elections were held in Sierra Leone on 24 June 2023 to elect the president and Members of Parliament. Incumbent President Julius Maada Bio was re-elected with 56% of the vote and the Sierra Leone People’s Party – SLPP won eighty-one (81) parliamentary seats in the House compared to the main opposition APC, which won fifty-four (54) seats in parliament. The result was contested by the APC, which demanded a re-run, citing “glaring irregularities” European Union Election Observers Mission stated that there were “statistical inconsistencies” in the presidential results published, with the European Union Election Observation Mission who also reported that the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone – ECSL should “publish disaggregated results data per polling station to allow for public scrutiny of the results.” Unless that happened, it said that transparency was compromised. The Carter Centre echoed these sentiments, as did the United States, Britain, Ireland, Germany, France and the European Union Elect Observer Mission.
Bryan David Hunt was publicly sworn-in as the Ambassador of the United States of America to the Republic of Sierra Leone on August 23, 2023. Prior to his current appointment, Ambassador Hunt served as Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to the U.S. Transportation Command from July 2022 to July 2023. He served as Office Director for South Sudan and Sudan in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs from August 2019 to July 2022 and concurrently as the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Africa and the Sudan from January 2021 to October 2021.
