Sierra Leoneans queued in ramshackle cities and jungle villages on Saturday to vote in their first elections since United Nations peacekeepers left two years ago, a test of the nation’s recovery from a 1991 to 2002 civil war.
Torrential rains cleared overnight in the capital, Freetown, and hundreds of people lined up around the block at several polling stations in the dilapidated city to vote for a new president and 112 parliamentarians.
”Maybe now things are going to get better,” said Freetown resident Abubakar Kamara, before heading off to vote in the west of the city. ”We must vote in peace and show the world that Sierra Leone is a peaceful country.”
At one polling station in the second city of Bo, 250km south-east of Freetown, a quarter of registered voters had already cast their ballots two hours after the polls opened.
Long lines snaked around voting booths in settlements of corrugated iron roofs set deep in the sprawling jungle, a Reuters correspondent travelling by helicopter said.
In the presidential race, Ernest Bai Koroma of the opposition All People’s Congress (APC) is expected to mount a strong challenge to Solomon Berewa, the country’s Vice-President and candidate for the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP).
President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, re-elected on a wave of post-war euphoria in 2002, is stepping down as required by the Constitution amid anger at corruption and a failure to supply jobs, electricity or roads in one of the world’s poorest states.
Berewa has vowed to curb graft if he wins the polls, in which 2,6-million Sierra Leoneans — roughly half the population — are registered to vote. If no candidate wins more than 55%, a run-off will be held, probably in early September.
Few glitches
One polling station in Freetown where Berewa was due to vote opened two hours late after a delay delivering ballot papers. Officials held up empty ballot boxes over the compound walls to appease the crowd outside, who accused them of ballot stuffing.
But generally, polling began smoothly.
”We’re hearing from our observers across the country there are some polling stations which have opened late, but they’re opening now,” said Marie-Anne Isler, the chief EU observer.
”There are long queues throughout the country and the process seems to be well-organised and peaceful.”
Sierra Leone’s war, which killed 50 000 people, was infamous for images of child soldiers who hacked limbs off civilians. Now young Sierra Leoneans have the chance to decide the fate of their country, with more than half of voters under 35.
”This is an activity that is going to make or break us as a nation,” said Christiana Thorpe, head of the National Electoral Council. ”Please let us give ourselves another chance.”
After two days of downpours, officials were concerned the rainy season could disrupt voting, particularly in rural areas. Ballots have been transported by trucks, canoes and porters to 6 176 polling stations in savannah, jungles and mountains.
In Sembehun Ngaula, a rice-farming village 300 km south-east of the capital, heavy rains washed out the bridge into town. Most of the 550 or so voters there will have to struggle many miles through the mud to cast their ballot.
The region was hit hard during the war. Destroyed buildings and homes have yet to be rebuilt after their occupants fled.
”I don’t want to run any more. I was on the run for 10 years,” Lamin Lappia, a farmer from Sembehun, said. ”If we use violence we will suffer. The politicians will not suffer.” — Reuters