The Economic Community of West African States’ (ECOWAS) Long-Term Observers are continuing their consultations with political stakeholders, ahead of Sierra Leone’s presidential and parliament elections on 24th of June, 2023.
The consultation includes interacting with the civil society organization, National Election Watch (NEW), a major player in the electoral process.
Briefing the Economic Community of West African States’ Observers, NEW Chairperson Marcella Samba-Sesay, gave an overview of the political context, highlighting issues related to boundary delineation, voter registration, electoral reforms, especially women’s political participation and representation, and pre-election court cases.
She also mentioned the perceived negative impact of social media, especially “youth radicalization,” “hostile and polarized political climate,” as well as the “regionalized and ethnicized” party politics with potential consequences on the 2023 polls.
Madam Samba-Sesay disclosed that NEW would be deploying 5,000 local observers across the 3,630 polling Centers nationwide as well as incident reporters and parallel poll result tabulators.
The regional observers also met Saturday with their European Union counterparts, deployed in Sierra Leone since 11th May.
On Friday, the Observers had a session with officials of the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding, WANEP-Sierra Leone, which boasts a membership of 58 registered organizations with shared responsibility and interest in conflict prevention and building peace in the country
Read full statement below
ELECTION 2023 – ECOWAS OBSERVERS CONTINUE CONSULTATIONS WITH SIERRA LEONE STAKEHOLDERS (1)
