SIERRA LEONE
Changing the Guard
Opposition leader Julius Maada Bio was declared on Wednesdaythe winner of a runoff vote to become Sierra Leone’s next president.
The former military commander was immediately sworn in Wednesday night, the New York Times reported.
The Sierra Leone People’s Party candidate won 51.8 percent of the vote in the runoff on Saturday, compared with 48.2 percent for Samura Kamara from the governing All People’s Congress, according to the Electoral Commission. Sixteen candidates had originally contested, but no one was able to gain the 55 percent required to avoid a second round.
Following a campaign season marred by violence and accusations of irregularities, the presence of heavily armed soldiers made for a fraught atmosphere, and a dispute over how to count the votes delayed the results.
Bio, who attended graduate school in the US and Britain, was previously part of two coups, in 1992 and 1996. After the second one, he ruled the country for three months before handing over control to a democratically elected civilian government.
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