Soldiers have surrounded Sierra Leone Headqurters, Amidst Final Poll Results Collation
Soldiers have surrounded the headquarters of the main opposition party in Sierra Leone, as votes are counted in the country’s presidential election.
The leader of the all people’s congress, Samura Kamara, said live ammunition was fired into the building as he held a news conference.
He said it amounted to an assassination attempt. Clouds of tear gas shrouded the building.
It’s unclear why truckloads of troops were deployed.
There was sporadic violence against election officials during the vote on Saturday after a tense campaign.
It’s not clear who is leading in the presidential race between president Julius Maada Bio and his main contender Samura Kamara, but both sides have already said that they won the poll.
Election observers have urged them to remain calm and wait for the official results. But there are worries that no results have been announced.
The winner of the election must secure 55% of the valid votes cast, otherwise there will be a run-off between the top two candidates two weeks after the announcement of the results.
But for Bio and his team, they have shrugged off the hacking allegations saying the move was an intimidation antic.
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They have also stressed the right to collate their results independently.
A government spokesperson, however, intimated that the action of the police should be seen as purely a security matter because they are state officers and not party political assigns.
Hence the ruling All Peoples’ Congress (APC) cannot be drawn into the raid.
Maada Bio is contesting his second consecutive time for the presidency. He lost the first attempt to outgoing Ernest Bai Koroma in 2011.
His main opponent is APC’s Samura Kamara – a former foreign affairs minister and career politician.
The National Electoral Commission (NEC) is also on record to have stated that their system cannot be hacked because it is basic and manual. Unlike in other countries were electronic transmission of figures is used to collate votes.
NEC chairman, Mohamed Conteh has also called for patience as the results of the process could take days to be announced.
“Results require several days to tally. Please be patient. The only true certified results are the ones that I will announce on behalf the National Electoral Commission,” he told the press after polls closed.
