Dr Omar Alieu Touray, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, has approved the deployment of 95 Election Observers to observe the June 24 Presidential and Parliamentary elections in Sierra Leone.
This is in line with provisions of Articles 12 to 14 of the 2001 regional Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance on assistance to Member States holding elections.
A statement issued by ECOWAS and copied to the GNA said ECOWAS had also provided Sierra Leone with $500,000 in financial support for the elections.
It said the Election Observation Mission (EOM) would be led by Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, a former ECOWAS Commission President and ex-Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of the UN Office in West Africa and the Sahel, with Mr Ansumana Ceesay, former ECOWAS Representative in Liberia and Guinea-Bissau to serve as Deputy Head of Mission.
It said the Mission would be assisted by an ECOWAS Technical Team to be led by Dr Abdel-Fatau Musah, ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security.
It noted that the 15 long term observers, who departed for Freetown on 15th June, would be led by Serigne Mamadou Ka, Acting Head of the ECOWAS Election Assistance Division (EAD).
The statement said the team comprised experts in election administration, gender, conflict management, security, legal and constitutional issues, and the media.
From 20th June, the long-term observers would be joined by 80 short-term observers drawn from the ECOWAS Permanent Representatives’ Committee, Member States’ Foreign Affairs Ministries and Electoral Management Bodies, the ECOWAS Council of the Wise, Community institutions (Parliament and Court of Justice), Civil Society Organizations, the Media, and election observers.
It said 13 candidates from 17 registered political parties were vying for the Sierra Leone presidency, including incumbent President Julius Maada Bio, who is seeking re-election on the platform of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP).
It noted that the SLPP defeated the then-ruling All People’s Congress (APC), in the last presidential election in 2018.
Some 135 Parliamentary and 493 Local Council seats will also be in contention.
It said the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL) registered 3,374,258 voters for the 2023 elections out of an estimated population of 8.7 million.
The statement said voting would take place in 11,832 polling stations within 3,630 polling centres across the 16 electoral districts nationwide from 0700 hours to 1700 hours.
It said the deployment of the Election Observation Mission was a follow-up to the joint ECOWAS and African Union pre-election fact-finding Mission to Sierra Leone from 12th to 14th April 2023.
SOURCE: GNA
