Evidence of blatant ballot stuffing in several centers, especially in the Northern Region, Kono and Freetown
Monday 19 November 2012
By Brig Gen (Rtd) Julius Maada Bio
Sunday 18th November, 2012: On behalf of myself and the National
Executive of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), I wish to express
my deepest gratitude and thanks to the entire membership of the Party
for the tireless and unrelenting effort during this electoral process.
Provisional Results of the election started coming in since last
night and have been broadcast by the Independent Radio Network (IRN).
The results reported by the IRN came on from various polling stations
across the country and so far they do not reflect any pattern that may
give an indication of who is winning or losing. I wish to emphasise, as
the IRN itself has repeatedly said, that the results are purely
provisional.
Although the National Electoral Commission (NEC) has the official mandate to announce the final results, the Party has set up its own mechanisms to monitor, collate and eventually report the results of the elections to its membership in the Chairman of the national Electoral Commission (NEC), Madam Christian (sic) Thorpe in her latest statement to the Press, admitted the disruption of polling in some parts of the Western Area. She mentioned only three wards in Freetown, namely wards 362,292 and 394. Her statement also mentioned the disruption of polling due to election malpractices.
In addition to the discrepancies identified by the NEC Chair and the National Elections watch (NEW), it has come to the attentions of the Party that the factors that have affected the polling in Freetown are more widespread and a lot more serious than has been reported by the NEC.
We have ample evidence and vital information to substantiate a number of incidents bothering on irregularities that violate the Electoral Code and which has the potential to affect the final outcome of these elections.
There are evidence of blatant ballot stuffing in several centers, especially in the Northern Region, Kono and Freetown with full complicity of NEC staff in most of these cases, at the time of counting the ballots, security officers at the polling station drove our agents and prevented them from observing the process and collating results. Evidently, most of the results announced do not reflect actual votes cast. There are videos of the NEC staff ensuring that voters cast their ballots for Ernest Koroma. This act was also widespread in the Northern Province.
Meanwhile, I wish to appeal to all our supporters to remain calm and to have the confidence in the Party Executive, its machinery and my humble self that we will leave no stone unturned, I repeat no one steals the mandate of our voters or alter the results to our disadvantage.
As things stand now, we are very confident of winning the elections.
Finally, to members of the International Community who have been co-sponsors of these elections, we express our profound appreciation for your continuing support.
We trust that you will continue to be supportive of our efforts as a country to ensure that the will of the people prevail and the outcome of the poll reflect that will.
Brig Gen (Rtd) Julius Maada Bio
SLPP 2012 Presidential Candidate
Monday 19 November 2012
By Brig Gen (Rtd) Julius Maada Bio
Although the National Electoral Commission (NEC) has the official mandate to announce the final results, the Party has set up its own mechanisms to monitor, collate and eventually report the results of the elections to its membership in the Chairman of the national Electoral Commission (NEC), Madam Christian (sic) Thorpe in her latest statement to the Press, admitted the disruption of polling in some parts of the Western Area. She mentioned only three wards in Freetown, namely wards 362,292 and 394. Her statement also mentioned the disruption of polling due to election malpractices.
In addition to the discrepancies identified by the NEC Chair and the National Elections watch (NEW), it has come to the attentions of the Party that the factors that have affected the polling in Freetown are more widespread and a lot more serious than has been reported by the NEC.
We have ample evidence and vital information to substantiate a number of incidents bothering on irregularities that violate the Electoral Code and which has the potential to affect the final outcome of these elections.
There are evidence of blatant ballot stuffing in several centers, especially in the Northern Region, Kono and Freetown with full complicity of NEC staff in most of these cases, at the time of counting the ballots, security officers at the polling station drove our agents and prevented them from observing the process and collating results. Evidently, most of the results announced do not reflect actual votes cast. There are videos of the NEC staff ensuring that voters cast their ballots for Ernest Koroma. This act was also widespread in the Northern Province.
Meanwhile, I wish to appeal to all our supporters to remain calm and to have the confidence in the Party Executive, its machinery and my humble self that we will leave no stone unturned, I repeat no one steals the mandate of our voters or alter the results to our disadvantage.
As things stand now, we are very confident of winning the elections.
Finally, to members of the International Community who have been co-sponsors of these elections, we express our profound appreciation for your continuing support.
We trust that you will continue to be supportive of our efforts as a country to ensure that the will of the people prevail and the outcome of the poll reflect that will.
Brig Gen (Rtd) Julius Maada Bio
SLPP 2012 Presidential Candidate
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