The Deputy Chairman of the main opposition All People’s Congress, Ambassador Dr. Osman Foday Yansaneh has warned against election rigging.

Yansaneh who served as APC Secretary General warned that election rigging could lead to violence in a state.

“When these elections show any malpractice, the integrity of the democratic process is compromised, leading to a range of negative consequences that can have severe and lasting impacts on nation and its people,” he said.

He added that election malpractice undermines the good tenets of democracy in any state.

“When a political party or candidate manipulates the outcome of an election, they are essentially subverting the will of the people and imposing their own agenda on the population,” the APC Deputy Chairman noted.

This recent remarks by Yansaneh is believed to be within similar context of that of an earlier criticism made by the Party’s Secretary General, Lansana Dumbuya against the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone.

Dumbuya criticised the Commission for producing substandard electoral ID cards while condemning certain features. He also warned the Commission to conduct a credible election or otherwise send the country into chaos.

Sierra Leone will go to the polls in a multitier election on 24 June 2023. The incumbent Julius Maada Bio will face the APC’s Samura Kamara for the third time after defeating him twice by narrow margins in 2018.

Both candidates are optimistic of winning the election without runoff as the country’s electoral laws warrant a second round if any of the candidates fail to secure a 55 percent of total valid votes in the first round.