Now the fun begins...

I spent the morning attending press conferences for the European Union Observer mission, the African Union Observers and the Carter Center. The most interesting was the European Union... headed by a guy named Richard Howitt.

Check out www.eueom.eu/sierraleone2012 for more info. There's a link to the full PDF report on that website.


Essentially, the EU have said that the elections in Sierra Leone have been largely peaceful and well-conducted. They've said how impressed they were with the high voter turnout... and the orderliness of the lines and voting process.

The main issues identified by the EU observer team were the very severe lack of women candidates, some voting irregularities, and the "unequal playing field" of the process. They also observed money changing hands... buying of votes, essentially. They saw the inappropriate use of government money by the ruling party. They saw the supposedly neutral Paramount Chiefs actively campaigning for the ruling party... and on and on.

For the most part... the EU report was good... But, when I spoke to Mr. Howitt after the presser, he told me directly that they were not going to play diplomacy here... They were going to tell the truth whether parties or governments agreed or not. He mentioned several other things that were of concern including the fact that there are no laws (or very broad guidelines) on election financing, campaign spending, etc. This is a glaring hole in the "free, fair and transparent" criteria.

None of the observers would categorically state that they thought the elections were a "pass" or "fail", for obvious reasons. The counting and tabulating is ongoing... and we're all eagerly awaiting word from the National Electoral Commission... who is the only authorized body to release official results.

More later... After the presser, I visited the SLPP office to attend their press conference. Hmmm, are you filled with suspense? I'll write that up shortly. S/