APA-Freetown (Sierra Leone) Uneasy calm reigns in some parts of Sierra Leone, ahead of Saturday’s crucial general elections in which current President Julius Maada Bio is bidding for a second five-year term.
Bio fronted by the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party faces his All People’s Congress rival Samura Kamara, the man he defeated in a two-horse race five years ago.
Aside from Bio and Kamara, 11 lesser known candidates are also running for Sierra Leone’s highest political office.
The June 24th vote which will also include the election of members of parliament and other local council representatives is being seen as a tightly contested race for Sierra Leone’s topmost job.
The exercise will be the fifth since the end of Sierra Leone’s 11-year civil war which ended in 2002.
In Freetown and the second city Bo the atmosphere appears to be calm as people go about their business including stocking up on food and other victuals in anticipation of poll-related tensions which had surfaced in recent days.
An opposition supporter died during skirmishes with the police near the headquarters of the APC in Freetown last Wednesday.
Foreign election observers have expressed concern over the pre-poll violence.
There have been tensions in the weeks and days leading up to Saturday’s vote as opposition supporters clashed with anti-riot police in other parts of the country.
Similar clashes resulting in the death of scores of protesters occured last year as demonstrators took to the streets of some cities calling on President Bio to resign.
The protests were over skyrocketing costs of living, joblessness and government corruption.
Bio’s government had blamed the country’s economic woes on the coronavirus pandemic but Kamara’s APC says government incompetence is the cause.
WN/as/APA