Sierra Leone’s president takes early lead in tense election race

By Nimi Princewill and Stephanie Busari, CNN

(CNN) — Sierra Leone’s President Maada Bio has taken an early lead in the country’s presidential election, provisional results showed.

The Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL) said it had so far tallied around 60% of the total vote and expects to declare a winner in the next two days.

The election is considered a two-horse race between President Bio, 59, of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) and 72-year-old former cabinet minister Samura Kamara, who leads the opposition All People’s Congress (APC) party.

Bio has so far polled more than a million votes and currently leads Kamara with over 200,000 votes, according to ECSL.

Earlier, Bio’s SLPP party said it was “greatly anticipating a landslide victory” following an internal review of its performance in the elections.

To be declared winner, a presidential candidate must secure 55% of the total votes. If this is not achieved in the first round of voting, a run-off election will be held between the two candidates with the highest votes.

Pockets of violence

The electoral commission described the weekend poll as relatively peaceful but acknowledged pockets of violence and delays in polling in some areas.

On Sunday, Kamara’s APC party accused the country’s security forces of laying siege to its head office in the capital Freetown, and firing live rounds into the property while it held a press conference after the polls.

In a series of tweets, Kamara said his party’s headquarters had been surrounded by government forces and live bullets had been fired at the door of his private office.

“This is an assassination attempt,” he added.

Another opposition leader, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, who is seeking reelection as the mayor of Freetown, posted photos from inside the surrounded building and wrote: “I am in the APC Party office and we are under fire. It is tear gas and what sounds like live rounds. There are about 20 of us on the ground in one office. The shots are still being fired. We need help please!”

The police accused the APC party of carrying out a procession and claiming victory in the polls ahead of an official declaration by the electoral commission, in a statement made available to CNN.

It added that officers were forced to fire teargas canisters when the “situation became unbearable,” but did not include details about whether shots were fired at the APC’s head office.

The statement accused APC party members of “harassing passers-by”, including those thought to be members of the ruling SLPP party and “announcing to the public that they had won the just concluded elections.”

Voting was carried out Saturday under heavy security presence and armored tanks.

Ahead of the polls, police fired rubber bullets and teargas at supporters of the APC, during a demonstration that called for the resignation of Chief electoral Commissioner, Mohamed Konneh, following allegations of electoral fraud.

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