Polling stations in Sierra Leone were open hours after their scheduled close, amid delays in an election whether to reelect President Julius Maada Bio amid a severe economic crisis.
(Bloomberg) — Polling stations in Sierra Leone were open hours after their scheduled close, amid delays in an election whether to reelect President Julius Maada Bio amid a severe economic crisis.
Voting continued through the evening in a “few localities” including the capital, Freetown, an electoral commission official said Saturday.
“Due to some logistical challenges in some polling centres relating to the late arrival of materials earlier in the day, polling stations will remain in open to allow for everyone who’s still standing in line to vote,” the official, Peter Kpundeh, said by phone from Freetown.
Nearly half the polling stations hadn’t opened by 7 a.m., according to WANEP-Sierra Leone, an independent regional observer mission. Reports of polling stations opening late were higher in the Western region, where 41% of polling stations were not open as of 8 a.m., according to the National Election Watch.
While 13 candidates are vying for the presidency, only Bio, 59, and Samura Kamara, a 72-year-old technocrat who has served as finance and foreign minister, have a realistic chance of winning. The incumbent narrowly beat Kamara in a presidential runoff in 2018.
A contender needs to secure 55% of the vote to win in the first round or a run-off will be held within two weeks.
Despite the nation’s economic woes, a June 14 poll by the Freetown-based Institute for Governance Reform, a partner of the pan-African survey company Afrobarometer, showed Bio leading among 56% of voters, compared with 43% for Kamara.
Voting was “generally peaceful,” WANEP said in a statement. Counting was underway late Saturday.
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Sierra Leone has long been hamstrung by high levels of debt that have limited the government’s ability to bolster the economy and increase access to basic services, a problem exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a global tightening in interest rates have since pushed up living costs and eroded the value of the leone.
Inflation reached 43% in April, and almost 60% of the population of more than 8 million live in poverty.
This vote “is about the future of the country, the future of our children,” Bio said, casting his ballot in Freetown.
Bio, who has made access to schooling a priority, has increased spending on education to 22% of the national budget.
Kamara has campaigned on public anger over economic hardship and has criticized Bio for failing to attract foreign investment and reduce the country’s reliance on aid.
Results are expected in the coming days.
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