Sierra Leoneans voted Saturday in a mostly peaceful general election following a late start in some polling stations, as the opposition denounced alleged irregularities.President Julius Maada Bio is seeking a second term amid a crippling cost-of-living crisis that sparked deadly riots last year.Twelve men and one woman are vying for the top job and incumbent Bio’s main challenger is Samura Kamara of the All People’s Congress (APC) party. They could face off for the second time in a row. Bio, 59, of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), narrowly beat Kamara, who is aged 72, in a runoff in 2018.After casting his own ballot at the Wilberforce Barracks in Freetown, Bio encouraged citizens to participate peacefully.”Go out and vote — it’s your right”, he said. “Vote safely. If you win, celebrate safely.”Kamara cast his ballot at Mafa Field in the Freetown neighbourhood of Lumley.”This election is about the future of Sierra Leone”, he told reporters.But he said the polling station — which opened more than two hours late, an AFP journalist saw — was “congested”.”Don’t be surprised if there is confusion”, he said.APC secretary general Lansana Dumbuya told AFP that voting began “very, very late” in APC stronghold regions, while it started on time in SLPP strongholds.Two AFP journalists arrived at a polling station in central Freetown where voting was just getting underway on Saturday afternoon. A soldier present told AFP voting had started at 2:00 pm.Polling stations were scheduled to open at 7:00 am and close at 5:00 pm (1700 GMT).National Election Watch, a coalition of civil society groups, said in a statement that 84 percent of polling stations it was observing across the country had opened by 8:00 am. However, only 59 percent of stations in the Freetown area had opened by that time.- Food prices -Sierra Leone, still recovering from the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola epidemic, was again hit hard by the Covid pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine.Boubacar Conteh, 27, from Wellington in the east of Freetown, waited since four in the morning to cast his ballot.”I want my country to change — I need change,” he said.In the Kroo Bay slum, a long queue of voters snaked along a garbage-filled stream towards a polling station that had only partially opened by 9:00 am.”My vote is my right, I want peace back for the country”, said Musu Mansary, a 48-year-old market trader, who was eagerly holding her voter ID card at the front of a queue. Nearby, Issa Bangura, a commercial driver, said: “There is too much hardship, not enough to eat, inflation is too high. We are suffering, so I want change.”Year-on-year inflation hit 43 percent in April.Mohamed Waritay, a 27-year-old security guard, said he was voting for Bio because of his investments in education and healthcare.  Waritay said Bio “built a hospital in my village with 100 beds”.- Bio tipped to win -Some 3.4 million people are registered to vote, 52.4 percent of whom are under 35 years old, according to an electoral commission spokesman. Presidential candidates must secure 55 percent of valid votes for a first-round win.Turnout has ranged between 76 and 87 percent over the past three elections.Voters will also elect members of parliament and local councils.Under a recently passed gender act, one-third of all candidates must be women.Many Sierra Leoneans vote based on regional allegiances.Jobs and benefits are commonly perceived to flow to regions whose politicians are in power.Bio, a former coup leader in the 1990s, has championed education and women’s rights in his first civilian term.Kamara, a former foreign and finance minister, has lambasted the electoral commission for alleged bias in favour of the ruling party.He is facing a protracted trial over allegations that he misappropriated public funds as foreign minister, a case he says is politically motivated. A June 14 poll by survey group Institute for Governance Reform (IGR) forecasts Bio will win 56 percent of the vote, with 43 percent for Kamara.Another poll, conducted by the newspaper Sierra Eye and two local data groups, forecasts 38 percent for the incumbent and 25 percent for his main challenge.The elections are being closely followed in West Africa, a region recently dominated by coups and turmoil.Last August, riots left at least 27 civilians and six police officers dead.
