Politics
Sierra Leone: Frontrunners to contest in March 27 presidential run-off vote
(Reuters) – Sierra Leone’s election to pick outgoing President Ernest Bai Koroma’s successor will head to a run-off later this month after neither of the 2 frontrunners secured an outright majority in the 1st round, the electoral commission said on Tuesday.
Opposition leader Julius Maada Bio of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) led the field of 16 candidates with 43.3 percent in the 1st round of the vote, held last Wednesday, according to results announced by the commission in the capital Freetown.
Maada Bio, who briefly governed the West African country as head of a military junta in 1996, will square off against 1st-round runner-up Samura Kamara of the ruling All People’s Congress (APC), who took 42.7 percent.
The run-off will take place on March 27, the commission said.
Koroma is stepping aside after his maximum 2 terms in office. The eventual winner will face pressure to revive a moribund economy that has been ravaged in recent years by low prices for its main export, iron ore.