By Umaru S. Jah in Brussels
Concerned Sierra Leoneans across Europe protested in the Belgian city of Brussels on Monday, June 24, calling on the European Union to consider targeted sanctions against government officials and members of the Electoral Commission who are responsible for the election’s irregularities in Sierra Leone.
A group called Concerned Sierra Leoneans and European Citizens of Sierra Leone origins in Europe organised the protest. They believed there had been widespread international condemnation in the June 24 multi-tier elections that gave a controversial win to the incumbent, Rtd Brigadier Dr Julius Maada Bio of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP).
The elections were widely reported by the Carter Centre, an international observer mission, as “flawed.” Other international observers’ missions in Sierra Leone, like the United Kingdom and the Head of the European Union, have also questioned the transparency of the tabulating process and further called on the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone to publish disaggregated results data at polling station level to build public trust.
Despite these legitimate concerns raised by the international observers’ mission and other partners in Sierra Leone, the Elections Commission for Sierra Leone remain recalcitrant to publish the disaggregated results data at the polling station level.
Against this backdrop, the Concerned Sierra Leoneans have urged the EU to help save Sierra Leone’s democracy by exerting internal and external pressure to re-run the elections in Sierra Leone.
“We will continue to advocate for restoring democracy in Sierra Leone until our development partners do the needful. We cannot sit back and allow few individuals to deprive the democratic rights of citizens by stealing their votes,” a representative from the protesters in Brussels asserted.
In a separate but similar meeting with representatives of Concerned Sierra Leoneans and members of the European Parliament during the protest in Brussels, fruitful discussions were held, followed by a petition paper which was handed over to the parliamentary representatives for onward transmission and necessary action.
