On 4 April 2018, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) declared candidate Julius Maada Bio as the Republic of Sierra Leone’s new President- see the video here:
On 31 March, some 2,578,271 voters headed to the polls for the presidential run-off election in 11,122 polling stations of the country, representing 81.11% of registered voters, NEC said.
Mr. Bio won the run-off election with 51.81% of valid votes cast, against 48.19% of the valid votes for his opponent Mr. Kamara.
In accordance with the Public Elections Act, any citizen of Sierra Leone who voted can challenge the validity of the election within seven days of the declaration.
The election and the tallying process have been observed by political party agents, national and international observers, and the media.
This election, conducted by the NEC, has been assisted by the Support to the National Electoral Commission (SNEC) project, funded by Canada, Ireland, the European Union, United Kingdom and UNDP. SNEC has provided core support to the electoral process in Sierra Leone by acquiring electoral materials, supporting the design and dissemination of inclusive voter information and strengthening electoral planning and management capacities as well as results management.
The detailed result will be accessible on the NEC website, www.necsl.org.
In response to a request from the Government of Sierra Leone and the National Electoral Commission (NEC) UNDP established a multi-donor project to support the technical preparations for voter registration and the 2018 elections. This follows a successful project that supported the NEC in the drawing of new electoral boundaries in 2016.
Previous Sierra Leone elections received large amounts of donor support, not only for technical assistance but also through meeting the cost of processes such as voter registration and polling itself. Recognizing the maturation of Sierra Leonean institutions, the project focuses only on key processes and areas that require support or improvement.