In a Saturday general election, incumbent President Julius Maada Bio seeks a second and last term despite economic hardship.
West Africans will elect parliamentarians and local councilors.
This is the fifth presidential election after a 1991-2002 civil conflict that killed over 50,000, wounded hundreds, and displaced hundreds of thousands.
With 13 presidential candidates, Bio, 59, leads. The main opposition All People’s Congress (APC)’s Samura Kamara, who nearly lost to Bio in 2018, is his strongest opponent.
Former UN under-secretary-general Kandeh Yumkella, who finished third in 2018, endorsed the president.
Campaigning has been peaceful, but opposition violence has occurred in southeast ruling party strongholds.
“They keep attacking us… by destroying our campaign posters and attacking our supporters,” Kamara claimed, adding that his party office was burned in Bo, a southern city, and his convoy was attacked in another town.
The ruling party has complained about attacks on its supporters in the southern Pujehun District and the opposition’s northern stronghold.
Some voters were concerned by the main parties’ aggressive campaign rhetoric.
I want serenity. “I am scared by the high level of hatred I see on social media by political extremists on both sides,” stated an unnamed University of Sierra Leone student.
Kamara called for electoral commissioners to resign last week, claiming his party did not trust them to hold fair elections.
The APC met with the election management body and threatened to mobilize supporters on Wednesday if its demands were not satisfied. To avoid escalation, the parties are negotiating.
During the campaign, Kamara’s party criticized Bio’s economy and rising costs. The ruling party blames the coronavirus outbreak and Ukraine war for economic problems.
The top two candidates will compete in a runoff two weeks after the first round if no candidate receives 55% of valid votes.
