The National Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone has declared incumbent President, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma as winner of the 17th of November, 2012 presidential election held in the Republic of Sierra Leone.
Freetown/NationalTurk – The election was held in the West African Nation last week with tensions running high over who is going to be the winner.
He won with1, 314,881 representing 58 percent of the total valid votes cast according to the certified results of the National Electoral Commission of Sierra Leon.
His closest rival former junta leader Julius Maada Bio came second with 837,517 votes polled representing 37 percent.
The election was widely described by the African Union Observers Mission and other recognized Observers as free, fair and credible and will rule the West African nation for the another five years.
Dr. Ernest Bai 59 became President on September 17, 2007 after winning the tense run-off presidential election in 2007 with 54.6% of the vote over the candidate who was the then incumbent vice President Solomon Berewa of the then ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) who gain 45.4% and conceded defeat to Dr. Ernest.
This is his second term as the president of Sierra Leon and his supporters believe he can help shape the destiny of the country still recovering from the Civil War.
Opposition cry foul
But the opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party led by Mr. Julius Maada Bio has accused the National Electoral Commission (NEC) of bias in favour of President Koroma’s All People’s Congress (APC).
The party General Secretary SulaimanTejan-Sie told reporters that the party is not happy with the election process since most of the concerns they raised over malpractices were totally rejected by the Electoral Commission.
“The Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) is dismayed at the extent of the irregularities which came to light, catalogue of malpractices and the apparent unwillingness of the National Electoral Commission to address such as directing voters to vote for specific candidates and among others’’ Mr. Tejan-Sie said.
Many analysts also believe that it was peaceful exercise from the fact that country is gradually recovering from the civil war.
Issaka Adams/ NationalTurk Africa News
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