FILE PHOTO: Julius Maada Bio, the presidential candidate for the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), carries his daughter as he shows his ink-stained finger after casting his vote during Sierra Leone’s general election in Freetown, Sierra Leone March 7, 2018. REUTERS/Olivia Acland
March 26, 2018
FREETOWN (Reuters) – Sierra Leone’s High Court on Monday canceled an injunction to delay the second round of presidential elections, saying the vote could go ahead as planned.
The face-off between opposition leader Julius Maada Bio and ruling party standard-bearer Samura Kamara was put on hold by the court on Saturday after a member of Kamara’s All People’s Congress alleged fraud in the first round.
It was unclear when the vote, which had been scheduled for Tuesday, would go ahead. But the electoral commission immediately filed a request to the court asking that the run-off be delayed until Saturday because its preparations had been interrupted by the earlier order.
In a brief ruling read by Justice Abdul Rahman Mansaray, the court said the election “can go ahead as planned”, without elaborating on its reasoning.
President Ernest Bai Koroma is stepping aside after his maximum two terms in office. The March 7 vote to replace him unfolded mostly peacefully but was marred by allegations of fraud in some districts and complaints of police harassment against the electoral commission.
Maada Bio, who narrowly led the first-round vote, and civil society organizations had denounced the court’s injunction and called for the run-off vote to proceed on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Umaru Fofana; Writing by Sofia Christensen; Editing by Aaron Ross/Mark Heinrich)
