Counting of votes begins in Sierra Leone
News & Trends •
ballot counting has begun in sierra leone after official close of voting at 5 pm gmt in the rescheduled presidential run-off election1 a statement issued by a member of the ecowas observation mission mr paul ejime said that prof amos sawyer head of the mission and his team watched the counting process at freetowns aberdeen polling centre1 sawyer according to the statement had earlier witnessed the commencement of voting at 7 am1 it noted that agents of the two rival political parties and security personnel also witnessed the process1 counting and tallying in the 16 administrative districts with 3300 polling centres and 11122 polling stations nationwide1 this will be followed with tallying at the regional centres and then moved to the national office for the announcement of the final results1 the ruling apc has dr samura kamara as its candidate running against the main opposition slpps julius maada bio a former head of state in this second election1 both emerged front runners from the inconclusive march 7 first round that had 16 candidates1 the run-off was originally scheduled for march 27 but had to be postponed due to a petition filed by a private lawyer. a lower court gave an interim injunction halting the poll1 the vacation of the court order by the supreme court and the preventive diplomacy initiate by heads of international observation missions helped to douse the political tension and paved the way for saturdays run-off which was generally peaceful1