Sierra Leone's President Julius Maada Bio re-elected for 2nd time

Freetown [Sierra Leone], June 27 : Sierra Leone's President Julius Maada Bio has been re-elected for a second term in office on Tuesday, The New York Times reported citing the country's electoral commission.

The election results have been announced amid concerns over a lack of transparency in the vote counting and sporadic episodes of violence.

Julius Maada Bio won 56 per cent of the vote while Samura Kamara, the leading opposition candidate, finished second with 41 per cent of the vote, The New York Times reported.

The election conducted on Saturday was a rematch of the 2018 contest in which Julius Maada Bio secured victory against Samura Kamara.

According to the electoral commission, voter turnout was at around 77 per cent. More than 3.3 million voters had registered to vote in Sierra Leone, which has a population of 8.4 million people, according to The New York Times report.

The voting on Saturday was mostly peaceful. However, the tensions increased on Sunday when security forces surrounded the headquarters of the All People's Congress, which is Samura Kamara's party as supporters were celebrating local results.

The police fired tear gas and a woman was shot dead, The New York Times reported. Party officials have accused security forces of firing live rounds. However, Sierra Leonean police have denied the charges.

As per the news report, Sierra Leone is facing an economic crisis, with inflation, unemployment and food insecurity in West Africa. However, Julius Maada Bio urged the citizens to give him five more years to follow an education initiative that has sent an additional one million children to school.

Julius Maada Bio has been accused of overseeing violent repression of protests, including last summer in which more than two dozen died in protests against the increase in prices, The New York Times reported.

Bio is a former military officer who participated in two coups during the civil war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s. He briefly ruled Sierra Leona in 1996 as the head of a military junta. However, he later handed over power to an elected president.