By Hasbin Shaw in Freetown, Sierra Leone
There has been very tense atmosphere at the National Electoral Commission (NEC) headquarters in Freetown on since Sunday, April1, 2018 afternoon when representatives of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) announced they will walk out of the NEC center of operation over disagreement with the All People’s Congress (APC) Party as the parties bicker over which system of tallying to use.
The center computes results from tallying centers across the country.
The SLPP said they would rather walk out of the NEC center of operation than be a party to what they described as a ploy by the ruling party to win the election through unfair means.
The incident occurred when NEC, half way through the process of recording of votes decided to use an excel spreadsheet instead of the software they had been using at the beginning of the process.
The stalemate was resolved after the leaders of the election observation missions chaired by special representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) Ibn Chambas succeeded in getting the presidential candidates of SLPP, Julius Maada Bio and Samura Kamara of the APC sign a new term for the restart of the tallying after the process was stopped over disagreement on the use of NEC software.
NEC said in a statement on Sunday April 1, 2018 that both political parties have agreed in a meeting at the Bintumani Hotel, saying, “The Reconciliation and Results Forms (RRFs), which are by law the basic documents for tallying of election results, will be entered first into NEC’s existing tally 2018 system up to and including the archive stage…”
The NEC said it would implement process in the regional tally center where polling station results into an excel spreadsheet using a stand- alone computer. The Electoral Commission noted that if there is any discrepancy revealed between the excel summation and the district results from the tally 2018 system, the tally 2018 figures will take precedent and the NEC will the compilation of final election results.
NEC said, “The NEC’s election results process is going on, and both political parties agreed not to undermine or disrupt the result process and to allow it to expeditiously move to it conclusion.”
Meanwhile, Sierra Leoneans are now impatient to the delay in the release of the run-off results. The results are being delayed due to court proceedings. Tens, perhaps hundreds, of Sierra Leoneans lined the Siaka Stevens Street Tuesday demanding that the NEC releases the elections so that children can return to school.
