By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
The leadership of 11 Political Parties that make up the All Political Parties Association (APPA) has endorsed the presidential result announced by the Chief Electoral Commissioner, criticizing the National Elections Watch’s report on the process.
APPA in a press statement dated 30th June 2023 said it views the conduct of the June 24th Multi-tier elections as transparent, inclusive, and peaceful for which the association commended the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL) for creating the enabling environment for parties to participate. It noted that the elections could not have been perfect but the association’s membership proudly associated with the outcome, noting that even the biggest of democracies have had the worst election stories of recent times.
It stated that though its membership contested to win the elections, they’ve accepted that President Julius Maada Bio won the June 24th Presidential Elections and are ready to work with him for the development of Sierra Leone. APPA said it has noted individual statements from the leadership of nine political parties on the conduct of the elections and urged the views on the outcome of the elections to be respected.
However, the group stated that the June 27th Report by NEW is a recipe for chaos and should be discountenanced by all Sierra Leoneans and hoped that credible alternatives in the civil society space are coming up. The statement said several credible organizations observed the elections and have decently done what any observer ought to do.
The Association in the statement reminded the Chairperson of NEW, Marcella Samba-Sesay that her organization is not a registered Political Party but merely a local observer organization that does not have a national outlook and lacks the moral and legal fortitude to make any informed declaration on the just concluded elections in the country.
It is hoped that in future elections, a policy on “election observations” will be developed and shared among observers, APPA said.
It called on Marcella to publicly apologize to Sierra Leoneans and leave the political space to the politicians and also called on citizens to remain peaceful and discountenance hateful, inciteful, and tribally decorated comments that have the potential to undermine the peace and national cohesion drive of the country.
The All Political Parties statement came after the National Election Watch criticized the outcome of the elections, saying no one political party won the elections at the first ballot and that it should have ended in a run-off.
Copyright (a) 2023 Politico Online
