The United States Government has tasked the Electoral Commission For Sierra Leone (ECSL) to only announce results that accurately reflect the will of the Sierra Leonean people.

Sierra Leoneans went to the polls on 24th June 2023 to cast their votes in the presidential, parliamentary, and local councils’ elections.

President Julius Bio has taken an early lead in the presidential election in Sierra Leone, provisional results published by the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ESCL) showed Monday.

The ESCL said it had so far tallied about 60 per cent of the total votes cast in Saturday’s election. The first set of results by the electoral commission shows that Bio has 56 per cent of the votes tallied so far while his closest rival, Samura Kamara, of the All People’s Congress (APC), has 42 per cent.

In response to the election, the United States Bureau of African Affairs expressed its appreciation for the Sierra Leonean people’s exercise of their voting rights. They acknowledged the concerns raised by election monitoring organizations regarding the transparency of the tabulation process. The United States emphasizes the importance of a free and fair electoral process in Sierra Leone, where the final results genuinely reflect the collective will of the Sierra Leonean people.

“We applaud Sierra Leoneans for exercising their right to vote. We share concerns expressed by election monitoring groups about transparency of tabulation process. Sierra Leonean people deserve a free and fair electoral process with an outcome that reflects the will of the people.”, the United States Bureau of African Affairs said.

Ahead of the final announcement of results, U.S. Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Ambassador David Reimer, took to Twitter to express Washington’s keen interest in the election outcome. He emphasized the importance of the announced results being a true reflection of the will of the Sierra Leonean people.

“Like all of us, Washington is keenly interested in the election outcome. The announced results must accurately reflect the will of the Sierra Leonean people.”, Reimer said.