By Henry Kargbo
The ruling Sierra Leone People Party SLPP-led government is still battling to clear the air with regards a press statement issued recently by the National Election Watch (NEW) regards controversial result published by the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL) Chief Returning Officer, Mohamed K. Konneh that the consortium of Civil Society and Non-governmental Organizations holds the view that ECSL results is in variance with the Process and Result Verification for Transparency (PRVT) methodology.
The Ministry of Information and Communications in its first national press briefing dated 6th July, 2023 introduced one Professor Adams B. Stevens as a hired mercenary to help the government and the discredited elections commission convince the media that the position of NEW lacks truism.
Prof Stevens identified himself as lecturer from the University of Maryland in the United States of America, where he said he hardly interface with blacks, hence finds its little strange addressing the Sierra Leone media, based on the complexity of media practitioners present during the press meeting.
He said NEW’s observation should be questioned, especially around tabulating of the just conclude presidential election results published on 26th and 27 of June 2023. The University of Maryland Professor reiterated that NEW’s quick count results should be questioned because the margin presented by NEW is in error, for which the ruling SLPP party’s hired mercenary argued NEW to help the much discredited Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone – ECSL and the public better understand how they arrived at the said tabulation.
Stevens continued that NEW report indicated that the voters’ turnout rate was 77.3% after NEW’s analyses projection of the result at 60% of the polling centers votes announced. “If we assumed 77.3% turnout, and the same trend counting by districts, the remaining votes would result in, Bio 45.98% (overall 51%), Samura 50.5%’’. the Professor argued.
According to him, the South East reported a much higher voters’ turnout that saw the SLPP assume 88% from the South East, and as a result, he is of the conviction that NEW may have genuinely or otherwise missed the South East voters’ turn out during their tabulation.
Prof. Stevens re-emphasized the need for NEW to explain where they got their quick counted result. He stated that NEW results turnout rate of 77.3 rates President Bio scored 50.4 %.
He informed journalists that 99% confidence interval, 72.56 turnouts or 82.0 % actual turnout reported about 83% while 45.69% and 55.11% show that Bio could win outrage, he stated.
He said NEW’s analyses projected the result after 60% of polling center votes announced. If we assume 77.3% turnout, and the same trend continuing by districts, the remaining voters will result in Bio 45%, he said.
According to NEW, a Process and Result Verification for Transparency (PRVT) methodology which allows NEW to assess the quality of Election Day processes and verify the accuracy of the official election result announced by the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone.
NEW holds the view that the process was strictly done in an independent and nonpartisan manner on behalf of all Sierra Leoneans to ensure that the results announced are accurate and verifiable, pointing out that the system is an advanced and proven election monitoring methodology used by citizens election observation groups around the world, which according to NEW allows for the independent and impartial assessment of quality of election day.
The consortium of Civil Society and Non-Governmental Organizations insisted that the PRVT analysis is based on data from polling stations before it proceeds to other tabulation processes, where NEW noted transparency was very limited.
NEW, in their PRVT exercise in the 2023 elections which draws on its experience in successfully executing PRVT to observe the 2018, 2012 and 2007 elections.
In all three elections, NEW projections matched the official results of the ECSL.
According to NEW, in 2023 they found out that the published results of ECSL are inconsistent with NEW’s PRVT data.
