Sierra Leone: Runoff vote to proceed Tuesday

A Sierra Leone court ruled that a presidential runoff scheduled for Tuesday March 27, may proceed even as a hearing into alleged fraud during the vote’s first round earlier this month continues.

The declaration on Monday by High Court Judge Abdulrahman Mansaray in the capital, Freetown, followed after a member of the ruling All Peoples’ Congress (APC) party filed an injunction over irregularities during the March 7 election. The same court ordered the National Electoral Commission on Saturday to halt preparations for the second round, pending the presentation of arguments on Monday.

After Mansaray delivered Monday’s ruling, the national electoral commission (NEC) asked the court for a postponement of the vote until March 31 as its preparations were interrupted by the earlier order, AFP reported, citing legal papers. It’s not yet clear whether the request will be granted.

Opposition leader Julius Maada Bio of the Sierra Leone People’s Party won the first round with 43.3 percent of the vote and will face Samura Kamara, the candidate of President Ernest Bai Koroma’s APC who secured 42.7 percent, in a runoff. Both parties have dominated the nation’s politics since independence in 1961.

Source: Bloomberg News