The dust has still not settled as Sierra Leone’s Vice President frowns at EU report on the June-24 elections. Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh who seems not comfortable with the report cited weaknesses which, he says, the report contains.
“In my view, the report is skewed more towards a political understanding of the elections rather than a technical understanding. It is filled with normative assertions and very limited electoral analysis,” The Vice President claims.
He also points out what he also calls a myriad of inconsistencies and lack of clear evidence which he sees as one that risk undermining the quality of the report.
The second in state command also raised several questions that go a long way undermining the expertise that has gone into the report. He paid particular attention to claims of divisive online communication and the creation of insecurity for rural voters.
“How do you interpret assertions such as online communication…created insecurity? How do you explain the technical value of the report when four out of the seven priority recommendations are political in nature?” the Vice President asked albeit rhetorically.
The report, by all standards, shocks the Vice President who had expected favourable report despite wrongs his government perpetrated against the people of Sierra Leone during polling day.
He said the report ought to have been “technically sound” to improve future elections by identifying institutional, legal and operational lapses.
By his wide exposure, he said, he had had the opportunity of seeing how elections were organised in Europe and Africa, but EU Election Observation Mission to Sierra Leone however proves to be different.
He however expressed hope that EU Election Observation missions could do better in producing high quality reports rooted in sound technical and analytical understanding of the elections.
In spite of criticisms lavished on the report, Dr Jalloh looks for a healthy cooperation to strengthen electoral systems in Sierra Leone.
The Vice President is not the only government officials who has punched the EU report, but other senior officials too. Although he remained mute about the report’s content, President Julius Maada too is not pleased with a report that has added weight to the unpopularity of his government.
A source has intimated this press that Bio made only few comments when the report was presented to him and later pushed it aside.
However other news channel who share their findings with this press indicated that Sierra Leone’s President has expressed firm commitment to implement recommendations in the final report. “We remain committed, as always, to addressing the recommendations of all observer mission reports, as we have in the past, in our on-going effort to propose crucial reforms aimed at fortifying Sierra Leone’s electoral system,” President Bio assured EU observers.
Bio, according to the news channel, emphasised that the report is a valuable resource for the National Electoral Systems Review Committee.
The committee, according to the President, plays pivotal role in evaluating existing legal frameworks, institutional arrangements and observer mission reports to enhance the electioneering process in Sierra Leone.
Members of the diplomatic community too have commended the report as one that stands the test of time.
A twit seen by this press has indicated that the United States Embassy in Freetown welcomes the report.
“The United States welcomes the release of the final report of the EU Election Observation Mission. All stakeholders can learn from its recommendations…,” the twit indicated.
Opposition politicians including Dr Samura Kamara, APC (All People’s Congress)’s presidential candidate too have been served, and sources say he was happy and pleased with the report.
Media practitioners and other key stakeholders have also commended the report but expressed fear only for its recommendations.
However, political analysts who see the report as a credible one has questioned the problems the Vice President has with the report as he pointed out general and not specific issues.
The Vice President’s failure to challenge the facts of the report but labour on superficial issues issues raised another question whose answer is yet to come. By all standards, the report is factual as it captures violent scenes that took place during and after the elections.
The report captured daylight rigging machinations of the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL) as well as violence directed at voters by the security forces. In page six, the report indicated that the entire election process was opaque as meaningful observation was impeded and the declaration of winners was not followed by the publication of disaggregated results per polling stations.
“On June 27, ECSL declared Julius Maada Bio of the Sierra Leone People’s Party elected for a second term passing the constitutional threshold of 55 per cent in the first round by 1.17 percentage points,” a portion of the report reads. The quoted portion, by all indications, remains the most contentious since no government official would like to see or read anything that depicts a defeat of the ruling party.
The report’s claim resonates with facts offered by NEW (National Elections Watch), a coalition of civil society organisations that has been observing and reporting on elections in Sierra Leone.
The coalition has been paying keen attention to almost all elections that have taken place in the country. Their projections of the election results immediately after voting usually agree with those announced by the election authorities.
Using the PRVT (Process, and Result Verification for Transparency), NEW boss, Marcella Samba Sesay made it clear in a radio interview that no candidate got 55 per cent to avoid a runoff. The PRVT was first applied in several African countries in the 1970s during elections.
She is currently out of the country seeking asylum elsewhere owing to death threats by supporters and thugs linked to the ruling party.
The EU report also noted that “following the declaration of the results of the parliamentary election a few days later, it was clear that result totals published by ECSL showed several statistical inconsistencies and mathematical improbabilities.” These inconsistencies, according to the report, means discrepancies in the number of average valid votes per polling station between the first and second batch of presidential results.
It shows that the figures vary from a decrease of 75 per cent to an increase of 31 per cent per district, a difference of up to 23 percentage per district between the turn out for the presidential and parliamentary elections with some districts registering lower parliamentary turnouts and others showing significantly lower presidential turnouts.
Turn out above 90 per cent is recorded in five districts and only 0.4 per cent of invalid votes nationwide.
These inconsistencies, the report notes, combine with ECSL’s refusal to publish the disaggregated results undermined the credibility of the tabulation process and voter’s confidence in the outcome of the polls.
The report also captured ECSL’s seeming preparedness and operational readiness ahead of the elections, but absence of transparency left many questions than answers. The situation is worsened by the loss of confidence in public institutions especially election management bodies.
“Against the backdrop of prevailing distrust in state institutions, the presidential appointment of ECSL commissioners added to the perception of political bias,” the report noted adding that ECSL missed many opportunities to build stakeholders’ as most decisions and procedures were neither published nor comprehensively explained to the citizens.
The issue of violence, threats and intimidation of voters also comes to the fore.
The report says live ammunition and teargas was fired outside the main opposition party’s headquarters in Freetown twice, three days prior and one day after the election killing one person in each firing spree. Since the Vice President can challenge none of these claims, the only response is to lay claims on trivialities because the report does not favour PAOPA government.