Sierra Leone’s Independent Commission for Peace and National Cohesion (ICPNC) and the Political Party Registration Commission (PPRC), held a joint peace meeting in Freetown on Monday to address complaints by the opposition All People’s Congress (APC) against the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL) and security forces, ahead of the 24th of June presidential and parliamentary elections. He disclosed that the Commission received on Monday, ballot papers for the elections after a delay of the cargo flight from South Africa. After a closed-door session, Rev Johnson announced that a smaller group of representatives of the four bodies should continue the peace meeting on Tuesday. Meanwhile, ECOWAS Long-Term Observers were deployed to Sierra Leone’s 16 districts on Monday with those in urban Freetown attending a Police-Media Dialogue on Elections organized by the Media Reform Coordinating Group (MRCG). At a separate meeting, the ECOWAS Observers were briefed by officials of the MRCG, Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) and the Independent Media Commission (IMC) on Sierra Leone’s media landscape, ownership, regulation, status of media freedom, the impact of social media and cybercrimes, and the role of the media in national elections.
Source: GNN Liberia June 20, 2023 15:42 UTC