The Sierra Leone people demonstrated their strong commitment to democracy in the general elections that took place on Saturday 24 June in a largely peaceful and calm atmosphere in a highly polarised political environment.

Following an invitation from the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL), the EU deployed an Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) throughout the country, led by Chief Observer Evin Incir. The mission has now published its preliminary statement, in which it observes that critical stages of the elections were generally lacking transparency.

Following the declaration of the results by the ECSL, the EU EOM calls on the ECSL to promptly publish disaggregated results data per polling station, which would defuse tensions and provide for a possibility of public scrutiny of the results and ensure transparency and certainty.

The EOM will remain in Sierra Leone until the end of the electoral period. It will then publish a final report and formulate recommendations with a view to contributing to the continuous deepening of Sierra Leone’s democracy.

The EU encourages the leaders and people of Sierra Leone to resolve any dispute regarding the electoral process peacefully and according to the established legal procedures.