On June 24, citizens of Sierra Leone will go to the polls to determine the leaders who will steer their country which emerged from a bloody 10-year civil war in 2002.
This election will see the incumbent president Julius Maada go head to head with leading and popular opposition figure Samura Kamara although there are other 11candidates gunning for the top job, the two candidates stand out as the front-runners to lead the West African country with a population of just 8.4 million.
The incumbent President Julius Maada Bio represents the Sierra Leone People’s Party, he is seeking re-election with a promise to accelerate the social and economic transformation of the country while improving access to public education and boosting agricultural production
President Maada will face strong competition in Samura Kamara, the runner-up in the last presidential election of 2018 on the platform of the All People’s Congress, which has been promising voters transparency, accountability, participation, and responsiveness in his administration once he’s voted in the country’s top office
Alongside the presidential poll, Sierra Leone will also hold parliamentary and local council elections.
Over 3.3 million Sierra Leoneans registered to vote in the 2023 elections, an increase of 195,595 from 2018, according to the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone.
Voting will be by secret ballot system in 11,832 polling stations across the country, with the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone overseeing the exercise.
After the elections, the ballot papers will go through five stages: screening, reunification, reconciliation, sorting, and counting. After which, results will be electronically tallied at the district and regional tallying centers.
After the counting, the station’s presiding officer will announce the results for agents and observers to record.
How the winner is determined.
These provisional results will be further tallied at the National Tallying Center (NTC) in the capital-free town.
The final results will be announced by the Chief Electoral Commissioner via traditional mass media.
For anyone to win a presidential seat a candidate must secure 55 percent of the total votes cast.
If this isn’t achieved, a run-off election will be conducted between the two candidates with the highest votes, as happened in the 2018 election.
