The opposition party’s candidate, retired Brigadier Julius Madaa Bio of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party, has been declared the winner of the March 31 Sierra Leone presidential run-off election.
According to the result announced by the Sierra Leone’s National Electoral Commission on Wednesday in Freetown, Bio received 1,319,406 votes, representing 51.81 per cent of the total 2,546,577 valid votes cast, to defeat the candidate of the ruling party.
According to the result, Kamara Wilson of the ruling All Peoples Congress polled 1,227,171 votes, representing 48.19 per cent of the valid votes cast.
The Chairman of NEC, Mohamed Conteh, who announced the result, said the national turnout in the election was 2,578,271, representing 81.11 registered voters, while 31,694 invalid votes were recorded.
Conteh added: “Therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred on me as National Returning Officer by sections 52(2) and 94(4) of the Public Elections Act, 2012 (Act No 4 of 20l2), I hereby certify that Bio Julius Manda having polled 1,319,406 of the valid votes cast in the March 31 Presidential election run-off has been duly elected President of the Republic of Sierra Leone.
“Any citizen of Sierra Leone who has lawfully voted in this election may challenge the validity of the said election of the President by petition to the Supreme Court of Sierra Leone, within seven days after the declaration of Presidential result pursuant to section 55(1) of the Public Elections Act, 2012 (Act No. 4 of 2012).”
Bio is to take office as Sierra Leone’s fifth president having won the run-off election with more than 92,000 vote margin against his APC counterpart.
Bio replaces President Ernest Bai Koroma of APC, who has completed his two terms of five years each.
Under Sierra Leone’s constitution, a winning candidate is sworn in once the Chief Electoral Officer certifies the results of the election, followed by official inauguration later.
Fourteen political parties participated in the first ballot, which was conducted on March 7, where no candidate secured the mandatory 55 per cent of the total valid votes cast.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that the opposition candidate Bio led the final result of the first ballot with 1,097,482 votes, making 43.3 per cent of the 2, 537,122 valid votes cast in the polls.
Kamara of APC at the first ballot came a close second with 1,082, 748 votes, representing 42.7 per cent of the total votes cast.
The run-off election became necessary since none of the candidates was able to get 51 per cent of the total votes cast as provided by the country’s constitution.
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