Sierra Leone’s electoral officials tallied votes yesterday after a peaceful day of voting in general elections seen as a litmus test of the West African nation’s post-war recovery.
Observers estimate a high turnout after Saturday’s presidential, parliamentary and local elections in which voters lined up all day to vote for a government they hope will bring prosperity and cement growth after a decade of peace.
On Saturday night after polls closed, citizens crowded around radios as provisional results from polling stations were announced.
Sustained cheers, vuvuzela blasts and whistles erupted across a ruling party stronghold in Freetown as Sierra Leonean President Ernest Koroma’s All People’s Congress (APC) pulled ahead in parliamentary poll results from the provinces.
Decisive results are due later this week and final results will be announced on Monday next week.
The poll is seen as a tight race between Koroma, who has overseen a construction boom, and ex-military leader Julius Maada Bio, who has amassed support among many still struggling to survive in one of the world’s poorest nations.
Koroma is regarded as the favorite, but analysts expect a tight race.
While no major incidents have marred the election process, peace will be most fragile when results are released. Both candidates have said they are confident of victory and Bio has warned he will not accept a “dirty election.”
Since independence from Britain, the two parties have dominated the political scene, both drawing support from traditional ethnic strongholds.
Bio’s Sierra Leone People’s Party is typically supported by the Mende — one of the country’s largest ethnic groups — and other southern tribes. Koroma’s APC is favored by Temne, the other major tribe, and others in the north and west.
“The real test for Sierra Leone’s democracy is how the loser accepts the defeat,” Jonathan Bhalla of the London-based Africa Research Institute said.
The election is a yardstick of Sierra Leone’s recovery from the 11-year civil war that left 120,000 dead and many mutilated by rebels who hacked off hands and feet. It will also hand the victorious party stewardship of a lucrative mining boom.
Richard Howitt, head of an EU observer mission, praised the peaceful election.
“The theme of this election is the fears that have been expressed to us by the people of Sierra Leone about a return to violence and so far we’ve seen a relaxed atmosphere with people happy to be taking part in voting and a peaceful election,” he said.
He said the transparency of the process was important for the acceptance of results.
In the presidential election, a candidate will have to win 55 percent of the vote to avoid a run-off.
A decade after the end of a war synonymous with the sale of “blood diamonds,” Sierra Leone has become accustomed to peace.
Now the concerns of most voters are development, prosperity, education, healthcare and greater employment opportunities.
Sierra Leone is rich in mineral resources and its massive iron ore stores are expected to add 21 percent in growth this year to the country’s US$2.2 billion GDP, the IMF estimates.
However, it also has one of Africa’s lowest life expectancies at 47 years and the highest rates of maternal mortality, World Bank data show. Youth unemployment levels hover at 60 percent.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia