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The ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) and opposition party, National Democratic Alliance (NDA) have both supported the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone’s (ECSL) result collation method.
“This tells you that we are progressing and moving forward,” said SLPP representative Amara Kallon, Deputy Minister of Political and Public Affairs.
The Deputy Minister also commended the early voting which will start on Thursday, 15th June for Muslim pilgrims who could be out of the country before the elections on 24 June.
The National Secretary General of NDA, Abdulai Barrie also commended the result collation method after live demonstration was done at the ECSL’s Warehouse at Wellington Industrial Estate in Freetown.
Through demonstration, some political parties, local and international observers learnt how results will be collated using a securitised system.
The system allows staff of the Commission to input data from polling centres electronically. The system also creates room to correct errors made at polling centre through a repetition of the entry process.
The main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) representative at the meeting, Alhaji Salieu Mansaray, however, criticised the system citing that their party was not consulted before the Commission decided to use it.
He said the system could be vulnerable to glitching or hacking.
According to the ECSL’s Director of Voter and Data Roll, Henry Jusufu Swaray, the system has been in use since 2007.
“It is the same system we used in previous elections including 2018 and 2012.
“The only addition is the mobility but it is the same,” Swaray said.
In another news, over 250 Muslim pilgrims will start their early voting on Thursday across all 16 districts of the country.
This is the first time early voting will take place in Sierra Leone.
