The Chief Commissioner and Chairman of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), Mohamed Kenewui Konneh announced that the 2023 presidential election will take place on 24 June 2023.

The commissioner made this announcement at a press conference this morning at NEC Headquarters in Freetown.

According to NEC, the announcement was made after consultation with the President, dates for registration of voters and conduct of Parliamentary elections have been published.

The 2023 Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Council elections will go ahead in accordance with the 1991 Constitution.

He added that the National Electoral Commission (NEC) will register eligible Sierra Leoneans from 3rd September, 2022 to 4th October, 2022 for the Presidential, Parliamentary, Local Council and Village Head elections to be held on 24th June, 2023, while elections for Paramount Chief Members of Parliament will be conducted on 2oth May, 2023.

NEC will also publish a notice on 31st March, 2022 inviting eligible voters to present themselves for registration in the wards for the local council elections.

There were speculations in recent weeks that the 2023 presidential election may be postponed to sometime in 2024, due to COVID-19 pandemic.

The NEC’s Chief Electoral Commissioner, Mohamed Konneh, however went public to dispel those speculations, maintaining that the national elections will be not affected by COVID-19.

Sierraloaded reports that, the only change is that the local council elections, which should have taken place this year, have been shifted to coincide with the presidential and parliamentary elections on the recommendation on the Justice Cowan Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) that was adopted by the Government White Paper on the grounds that holding two separate elections will cost the country a lot of money it can hardly afford.