Sierra Leone’s 2023 general elections will be held with over eleven thousand ballot boxes to be loaned from Guinea.

The Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL) made this disclosure over with weekend adding that over forty-eight thousand (48,000) ballot boxes will be required for the June 2023 elections.

Mohamed Turay, the Director of Operations at the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL), said that the borrowed ballot boxes will be transported to Sierra Leone on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, in the presence of journalists and other observers.

Prior to their arrival at Gbalamuya town in Kambia, where they will be collected, a special team from ECSL, including the Chief Electoral Commissioner and Chairperson, will travel to Guinea to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Guinean authorities regarding the loan of the ballot boxes.

Speaking on the whereabout of the ballot boxes used for the 2018 elections, Turay stated that the Commission currently has over thirty-five thousand (35,000) ballot boxes in storage. He mentioned that they will be used in conjunction with the eleven thousand ballot boxes borrowed from Guinea for the upcoming General elections.

Regarding the ballot boxes from Guinea, Turay added, “It’s free and loaned, and after the elections, we are going to return them to Guinea again.”