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Sierra Leone: Voting concludes peacefully in presidential election – awaiting results
However, she said that while some polling stations opened late, problems were swiftly solved.
Richard Howitt, chief observer for the European Union election observation mission, said there were bound to be flaws in the process but that early reports indicated a high turnout Saturday.
“What we see is a very happy atmosphere with people enthusiastic to vote,” he said.
President Ernest Bai Koroma later cast his vote before screaming fans chanting his name.
“We are also pleased that it has been a peaceful process up to this moment and we hope that it will continue,” he told reporters afterward.
Leading opposition candidate and former military leader Julius Maada Bio told reporters at his polling station that he remained “very confident I am going to defeat the president in this very first round.”
Koroma won office in 2007 on promises to help uplift the country and sought to reassure voters with campaign signs that read: “I Will Do More.”
