Sierra Leone elections: Claims of intimidation and vote-rigging as nation of eight million-plus goes to polls

At a central petrol station in Makeni, the largest city in Sierra Leone’s Northern Province, Balu Kanu pointed weakly at her stomach.

“I’m hungry. That’s the main thing that is affecting me,” she said.

Kanu – who looked to be in her 80s, but didn’t know her own age – used to be a businesswoman, but now she gets by through begging. “The economy is bad, it’s affecting everybody,” she noted.

Sierra Leone – a West African country of roughly 8.4 million – goes to the polls on Saturday to elect a new president, along with parliamentarians, mayors and local council politicians. As political parties trade allegations of intimidation and vote-rigging, many of the country’s citizens are simply hoping that whoever wins will find a way to improve the economic situation.

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Like much of the region, Sierra Leone has been facing huge levels of unemployment, high inflation and a rocketing cost of living.

The two main parties are the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), the party of current president Julius Maada Bio; and the All People’s Congress (APC). Roughly 3.4 million people are expected to vote.

Bio (59) is running for a second and final term. He was previously the head of state of Sierra Leone in the 1990s in the military junta government that ruled during the 11-year civil war.

The APC’s candidate is Samura Kamara, a 72-year-old economist and former foreign affairs minister who narrowly lost the 2018 election to Bio.

Since coming to power in 2018, Bio’s government has been lauded internationally for its progress on women’s rights and education.

The country’s education minister, David Moinina Sengeh, received an award this year for “best minister in the world” at the World Government Summit in Dubai. Sierra Leone was also this month elected to the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member.

At home, however, there have been concerns around whether Bio is presiding over growing authoritarianism, as well as violence. Last August, during protests related to the cost of living, at least 28 civilians and six police officers were killed after security forces began shooting live rounds, hitting not only demonstrators but also people who were not participating.

An Irish Times investigation, published in December, showed that even more people were killed than were officially counted, while bereaved relatives were further traumatised by the state’s refusal to return the bodies of the dead to them.

[ Death in Sierra Leone: First tear gas, then shooting ]

On Wednesday, there was another protest in capital city Freetown. It had been called by the APC, which said it was protesting against electoral irregularities.

Young men brandished signs, including one reading “no data, no election”, as they ran away from security forces. There was a heavy armed police and military presence, and various roads had been completely blocked off.

Reporters from AFP saw tear gas being fired by security forces and rocks thrown in response. Videos, which went viral online later, appeared to show an APC supporter who had been shot dead – party colleagues later identified him to The Irish Times by his nickname “White Boy”.

Close to the protests, a guard outside a government building was checking that visitors had appointments before they could enter, telling one woman “this country is unstable”.

The following day, in opposition stronghold Makeni, roughly 200 party agents had gathered at the APC party headquarters to undergo training before they deployed to monitor polling stations. A car drove along the street outside, blasting a message from speakers exhorting people to go and vote.

“When there is an election there must be election fever… Everybody’s excited about it, everybody’s worried, what it will look like, what’s the result of the election, those are natural feelings,” said John Shanghai Koroma, APC’s district secretary in Bombali District.

At the same time, he was critical of how things had progressed to this point. “We all know what the government has done,” he said, naming various times when civilians had been killed during protests. There has been “a lot of intimidation”, he alleged.

“They prevent people from freedom of speech, from freedom of movement, from peaceful demonstration… The military is controlled by them, [the] police [are] controlled by them, everything is controlled by them.”

APC publicity secretary for Bombali District, Samuel Issa Koroma, stood forward to explain the reasons for Wednesday’s demonstrations. He said the APC had identified problems in the electoral process, and brought them to the attention of the electoral commission. Those included there not being enough information in the voter registration data they were given and that it had not been made available to them on time, he said.

“We have identified so many issues. But the commission turned deaf ears not to listen to us. We decided to send a message, in the form of protest, that these issues have been brought to the attention of the commission and on several occasions the commission will not sit with us,” Koroma said. “It’s not just about the APC, it’s about Sierra Leone.”

The electoral commission did not respond to a request for comment, though a source with knowledge of their workings said it had been holding regular meetings with political parties in the run-up to the election. Some observers have accused the APC of exaggerating the situation to discredit the vote.

Koroma said that the opposition was still willing to take part and it was possible that the results would be fair. “Even though the damage has been started, there is still more room for us to mend the wounds and get a free and fair and credible election.”

A short motorbike drive away, a line of police officers and soldiers sat guard across from the SLPP office, a green-painted building down a quiet road.

Abubakarr Taal, the SLPP’s acting district chairman, said they had been “facing some intimidation, some party members [were] attacked, posters vandalised, supporters attacked”.

He said some SLPP members received threats that their homes would be burned down and there had been a rumour going around that the party’s headquarters would be torched too.

The 38-year-old has been an SLPP member since he was a teenager. “One hundred per cent we will win,” he insisted.

He praised the security forces, accusing the opposition of protesting without proper permissions.

“In this country we have a procedure if you want to protest,” he said. “They violated that mandate, that’s why they created resistance from the police. The police will not allow you to cause anarchy… The reason why the opposition is doing this, to put the record straight, is that they are not prepared for these elections… They have failed to do the assignment.”

Sitting beside him was Amadu Kamara, who is running for mayor for the SLPP, aged just 32. Kamara – who wears a hat reading “vote Bio” – said he believed that he was the youngest mayoral candidate in the country.

“It’s not easy campaigning in the opposition stronghold, here the minds are already made up... They don’t look for competence, they don’t look for smartness,” he said. But he was confident he could win. “My message is youthful participation.”

His background is as a teacher and journalist, and he is also currently in the final year of a law degree.

His campaign slogan is “tarmenkor”, translating as “let’s give him a try”. Kamara said he wanted to push the government for more scholarships, microfinance loans and other employment opportunities.

“We’re prepared for Saturday… We know we’re going to beat them… Here is now a battleground,” he said.