ECOWAS Approves $500,000 in Support of Sierra Leone Elections

Sierra Leone’s upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for June 24 have received financial support from the President of the Economic Community of West African States Commission, His Excellency Omar Touray.

An amount of $500,000 has been approved to aid the electoral process, aiming to ensure its smooth and transparent conduct.

In a statement released on Thursday, the ECOWAS Commission revealed its plan to dispatch a team of 95 observers to monitor the elections closely. This initiative aligns with the provisions outlined in Articles 12 to 14 of the 2001 Regional Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, which emphasize the assistance to member states during electoral proceedings.

Leading the ECOWAS Election Observation Mission will be Mohamed Chambas, a former President of the ECOWAS Commission and former Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General. Assisting Chambas as the Deputy Head of Mission will be Ansumana Ceesay, a former ECOWAS Representative in Liberia and Guinea-Bissau. Additionally, a technical team, led by Abdel-Fatau Musah, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace, and Security, will provide support to the mission.

The decision to deploy the Election Observation Mission stems from a joint fact-finding mission conducted by ECOWAS and the African Union from April 12-14, 2023, in Sierra Leone. This mission aimed to assess the pre-election environment and gather crucial insights for the upcoming elections.

A total of 13 candidates from 17 registered political parties will be competing for the Sierra Leone presidency, including the incumbent President Julius Bio. In the previous presidential election held in 2018, Bio’s Sierra Leone People’s Party emerged victorious, defeating the then-ruling All People’s Congress.

Alongside the presidential race, the elections will feature contests for 135 parliamentary seats and 493 local council seats. The Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone has registered a total of 3,374,258 voters for the 2023 elections, accounting for an estimated population of 8.7 million.

Voting will be conducted across 11,832 polling stations located within 3,630 polling centers spread across the 16 electoral districts nationwide. The voting hours will be from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm, ensuring ample time for eligible citizens to exercise their democratic right.