FREETOWN – As Sierra Leoneons anxiously await the results of the just ended elections, two people wearing police uniforms were this afternoon arrested with several boxes of marked ballots.
Eyewitnesses say the men were nabbed in an area called Zinna Hill in the West of Freetown, the country’s capital.
The All People Congress party has alleged massive fraud in the electoral process. Over 3.4 million Sierra Leoneans went to the polls yesterday to elect a president, members of parliament, and other local officials.
Liberian journalist Lyndon Ponnie, who is covering the elections in Freetown, reports that the APC claims they were denied representation at some polling stations in the ruling party’s strongholds as Bo, Kenema, and other areas.
The APC’s presidential candidate Dr. Samura Kamara, alleged ballot stuffing and vote rigging.
Freetown is said to be a stronghold of the main opposition party, and according to the opposition, the elections commission allegedly reduced the number of polling stations in the capital to make it difficult for opposition supporters to vote; while Bo, the ruling party stronghold, is alleged to have more voting centers.
Because of the lack of trust in the election commission and the police, sources said opposition members have been told to be on the alert, thus the arrest of the two people wearing police uniforms. It is not clear where they were carrying the ballot boxes.
ECSL, the agency responsible to conduct the polls has not commented on the allegation of rigging and stuffing of ballots.
Meanwhile, people in the country are anxiously awaiting the results of the elections which are supposed to be announced by the country’s election body- ECSL within forty-eight hours after voting.
