Tripartite Committee May Recommend Elections Rerun

By Abrah Tee Jay

Unconfirmed, but reliably informed sources have reached The Times SL Newspaper that the Tripatite Committee set up to look into the elections of June 24 ,2023 may recommend for a rerun of elections in Sierra Leone late 2024.

Times SL Newspaper learnt that the TRIPATITE Committee was almost at the tail end of its findings, and will soon come out with recommendations.  There are concerns that the ruling SLPP led-Government of President Julius Maada Bio is unhappy with the committee, as they earlier raised concern for the committee to do its work within two years. This, according to reliable sources, was rejected by the majority, alongside members of the international community, who had agreed for the committee to be able to do their work within six months.

The TRIPATITE Committee, comprising members of the political parties and representatives from the international community, as well as election experts. It could be recalled that the outcome of the June 24 elections in Sierra Leone became topical, to the extent that local and international observers described it as ‘’an elections marred with election malpractices, evident in ballot stuffing, over voting and vote rigging in favor of the incumbent President Julius Maada Bio.’’ A report from the National Elections Watch (NEW) states that none among the contestants polled 55%, which was the score mark to enable one to be declared President of Sierra Leone, as per the country’s 1991 constitution.

There was also wild condemnation by the European Union Observers Mission alongside the Carter Centre Foundation, who took part in observing the June 24 elections. Both international bodies decried the outcome of the elections, stating that the entire process lacks transparency and accountability. The Opposition, All People’s Congress, in a press statement decried the outcome of the elections, whilst claiming victory. However, the incumbent, SLPP’s Julius Maada Bio, was declared winner by the Chairperson and Returning Officer for the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone, Mohamed Konneh. Konneh’s declaration was however condemned by local and international observers, as well as by the main opposition, APC, claiming that the electoral process was covered in secrecy, as a result, they will not accept the results.

The opposition’s Presidential Candidate, Dr. Samura Kamara, therefore called on its elected representatives in Parliament and Councils not to work with the SLPP Government, claiming that the election results announced by ECSL, declaring President Bio as the winner, was doctored. There and then, the APC had to challenge the outcome of the results, but deliberately refused to go to court on the conviction that the judiciary was not to be trusted to dispense justice, based on past experience.