Jeffrey Smith, a Washington-based pro-democracy and human rights activist has said that the United States Government will not endorse the Sierra Leone Presidential election result.

Sierra Leone concluded its presidential elections on Tuesday with incumbent President, Julius Maada Bio announced winner having polled 1,566,932 votes constituting 56.17%, according to the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL).

The election was marred with allegations of widespread violence, rigging, and ballot stuffing. m The opposition All People’s Congress (APC) party has also accused the ECSL of lack of transparency in the electoral and result collation process.

Commenting on the development, Jeffrey Smith who has a decade of experience in human rights advocacy, pro-democracy and research work on Africa says the United States Government representatives will not be attending the swearing-in of the incumbent president, as a sign of non-endorsement of the election result.

“Appears the U.S. Government and embassy in #SierraLeone won’t endorse the election result as announced, which declared incumbent president Bio as winner (with 1% over the required threshold). US reps will not attend the swearing-in.

“In May 2018, a White House delegation met with Bio on the eve of inauguration; they also attended his inauguration the following day. That the U.S. ambassador was absent today is notable.”, He tweeted.

Before the announcement of the results on Tuesday, the United States Government had tasked the ECSL to only announce results that accurately reflect the 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.

U.S. Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Ambassador David Reimer also 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.