Outgoing Sierra Leone’s President Ernest Bai Koroma on Wednesday 28 February, at the Presidential Lodge in Freetown received Prof. Amos Sawyer, Head of the 55-member ECOWAS Observation Mission and renewed his government’s commitment to delivering credible general elections on March 7 for a successful political transition in the country. “We have come a long way and made some progress, and from the preparations on the part of government, the Electoral Commission, security agencies and political parties, we expect a peaceful electoral process and transfer of political power,” President Koroma assured. The ECOWAS Observation Mission is holding consultations with various Sierra Leonean political stakeholders to ensure that the electoral process complies with the regional protocol on good governance and democracy. The regional observers are being deployed to the country’s 16 Administrative Districts, where some 3.17 million registered voters from an estimated national population of seven million people will cast their ballots in 11,122 polling stations to elect Sierra Leone’s 5th President and members of the 144-seat parliament. Sixteen candidates including two women are vying for the presidency, while more than 700 candidates are contesting for the parliamentary seats.

Source: GNN Liberia March 01, 2018 17:12 UTC