The European Union Election Observation Mission revealed that 28 long-term observers will be deployed across all 16 districts in the country.
This revelation surfaced at press conference held at the Radisson Blu Mammy Yoko Hotel in Aberdeen, Freetown on Tuesday afternoon.
“The Observers will monitor the electoral process in their areas and report back to the core team in Freetown,” said Evin Incir, Chief Observer of the Mission.
She added that the 28 observers will be joined by 40 short-term observers with 10 locally recruited short-term observers together with a Delegation of Members of the European Parliament before the 24 June elections.
The observers will join a core team of 10 analysts that arrived in Freetown on 11th May and has been assessing all aspects and stages of the electoral, legal as well as traditional and issues related to social media.
“All observers will assess the voting, counting and tabulation of the results,” Incir said.
The Mission clarified that the team will be made up of a total of 100 observers to observe about 500 polling centres across the country.
“At full strength the mission will comprise around 100 observers from 26 EU Member States, Canada and Norway,” the mission stated
The EU Observation Mission said they in Sierra Leone on the request made to the European Union by the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MFAIC).
The work of the mission is said to prolong into post-election when they shall issue a preliminary statement in a press conference.
“A final report, including recommendations for future electoral processes, will be presented after the finalisation of the entire electoral process,” they noted.