-EISA Election Observation Mission
The Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA) has disclosed in its preliminary report to the local and international press that the National Electoral Commission tally centre layout and procedures do not facilitate direct observation of the procedures or easy interface between officials and observers.
“Observers depended on the figures projected at the screens,” the report stated.
Presenting the report on behalf of EISA, head of Mission Delegation, His Excellency Goodluck Jonathan, urged NEC to consider simplifying the ballot reconciliation and counting procedures to make it less tedious and easier for polling personnel, observers and monitors.
The ElSA Observation Mission also highlighted that their observers had visited all five regional tally centres and that in their early assessment of the process they noted that the process was off to a slow start as NEC officials were waiting for materials to be transported from various areas.
The Observer Group had earlier deployed 12 short term observers in Bo, Freetown, Kenema, Makeni and Port Loko.
It could be recalled that EISA has issued its preliminary report while transmission and tallying of results is still on-going, and therefore their reports, according to the head of mission, only reflect the Mission’s observations up to the conclusion of the counting process at polling stations.
“The statement therefore neither covers the transmission of results nor the finalization of the results tally process. This explains why the statement is preliminary,” the report states.
The preliminary report presented to the local and International Press, on Friday the 9th March, 2018 at the Raddison Blu Hotel, Aberdeen, came up at a time when the main opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party is questioning NEC’s counting and tally process in a press conference held on the same date at Bintumani Hotel in Freetown.