According to the electoral commission, Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio is currently in the lead in the presidential election count. This announcement was made on Monday, with 60% of the votes already tallied.
The incumbent president had gathered 55.86% of the ballots cast which is more than the 55% required for victory.

His biggest rival, Samura Kamara from the All People’s Congress (APC), had gathered 41.53% of the votes.

Bio is running for his second term against 12 opponents. Kamara narrowly lost to Bio in the last election in 2018.
The tally has already been disputed by the APC which denounced “such cooked-up figures” in a statement on Monday.

At a press conference EU observers also said that they felt that a lack of transparency and communication by the electoral authority led to mistrust in the process.

The APC said that election representatives were attacked and intimidated in three districts on June 24, the election day.

The election commission on Sunday said that several officials had been beaten in different parts of the country.
A woman was found dead at the party headquarters on Sunday after police surrounded the building and tried to disperse opposition supporters during a post-election news conference.

The APC spokesperson confirmed that the woman was a nurse and a party worker.

Members of the opposition parties said that the incident unfolded like a “horror film” and that “live rounds” and “shots” had been fired.

Police did not confirm the death while saying that they had fired tear gas canisters “to disperse the crowd which was disturbing people on the road.”

While calm returned to Sierra Leone on Monday, citizens fear that more unrest could occur as results get announced.

After the publication of the provisional results, Bio addressed the nation and called on people to maintain peace.