Sierra Leone Elections: A Race To Save The Soul Of A Nation

As Sierra Leone, one of West Africa’s smallest but oldest states elects a new president and other government officials On June 24, 2023, 3.4 million Sierra Leoneans out of 8.421 million (2021) are expected to head to the polls to vote. This will be the sixth elections since the end of the brutal civil war in 2002 which claimed thousands of lives and also the second since the Ebola epidemic.13-candidates from different political parties are engaged in the presidential race but only two of them really stand a chance of clinching the seat. One of these contestant is Samura Kamara, a former foreign and finance minister and ex-governor of the Central Bank of Sierra Leone, Kamara was the runner up in the last presidential election which held in 2018. He has been charged with misappropriation of public funds amounting to $2.5m which he has denied but still facing ongoing trial. The next candidates is Julius Maada Bio who is the Current president of the country, Bio was elected president in a run-off election. He was part of a group of sierra Leonean soldiers who toppled the democratic government in freetown in 1992. Bio was briefly military head of state for three months in 1996, before handing over to a democratic government. He contested and lost election in 2012 but finally became a democratic president in 2018.As Sierra Leoneans prepare to head to the polls this Saturday, the growing economic hardship is on everyone’s mind. Across cities, entrepreneurs are feeling the brunt of rampant inflation which hit 43% in April, 2023 – up from a high of 41% in March. The price rises are a major preoccupation for youth here ahead of the presidential, legislative and local elections this weekend. Around 52.4% of registered voters, or 1.78 million people, are aged between 18 and 35 years old, according to a spokesperson for the electoral commission.As Julius Maada Bio held his final rally in the capital before the polls open on Saturday (June 24). Police and protesters clashed on Wednesday when the supporters of the opposition party All People’s Congress (APC) who are accusing the electoral commission and its chairman Mohamed Konneh of alleged bias in favor of the ruling party. The protesters are demanding the release of a more detailed voter register.