The United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (Unamsil) on Tuesday hailed landmark elections in the war-ravaged country west African country as ”exemplary.”
Stressing that no violence and a high turnout marked Sierra Leone’s presidential and parliamentary polls — the first elections since the end of a brutal 10-year civil war — Unamsil chief Oluyemi Adeniji said everything had gone off smoothly.
”Our consensus is that the organisation of the elections had been extremely well done in all the areas,” Adeniji, Special Representative of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, told a news conference here.
”The comportment of the voters has been exemplary,” he said, adding that the ”very high turnout” could be attributed to ”enthusiasm” over the first democratic elections being held ”in a free atmosphere” in a long time.
Tuesday’s polls were by far the most peaceful in Sierra Leone, which has suffered repeated electoral violence, coups and a bloody civil war.
They were also the first elections since the formal end of the war in January.
Adeniji said there were minor ”hiccups” during polling but added that all issues had been resolved amicably including demands by voters supporting a party of former rebels who wanted to vote in another area.
They said they had been chased out from the eastern region of Kono by supporters of the ruling party. They wanted to vote in the northern former rebel stronghold of Makeni and were finally allowed to do so.
”What could have caused a hitch was amicably resolved,” Adeniji said.
Adeniji said he hoped all parties would accept the final result with grace and ”accept it as the will of the people.”
The RUFP party of former rebels, which began disarming after a peace pact last year, is contesting elections for the first time. President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, who is seeking a second term, appears to be the frontrunner among the candidates in the presidential elections as the man who brought peace back to Sierra Leone with the help of a UN peacekeeping force and British military trainers. ? Sapa-AFP