Africa
A SIERRA Leonean lawyer has filed a petition before the country’s High Court in Freetown, seeking an injunction to suspend the March 27 Presidential run-off election between the candidates of the opposition SLPP and the ruling APC.
According to judicial sources, Ibrahim Sorie Koroma of Port Loko District, in the 10-page petition, supported by an affidavit on his own behalf, joined the chief electoral commissioner, the National Electoral Commission and the Attorney General and Justice Minister as co-defendants.
Apart from seeking an interlocutory injunction restraining the run-off vote, he is also praying the High Court to order a recount of all the 2.6 million votes cast during the March 7 general elections.
The defendants should also be restrained from further announcing or publishing the Presidential, Parliamentary or Local Council Elections results pending the hearing and determination of his application.
The plaintiff, represented by another lawyer Lansan Dumbuya, in the application filed Tuesday, is also seeking an Order to conduct a forensic audit on the internal systems and the entire electioneering system conducted by NEC on March 7, and to prepare a report and make recommendations therefrom within 14 days.
No date has been fixed for hearing the petition, but legal experts have warned that any delay in completing the presidential election could throw the country into a constitutional crisis.
Under Sierra Leone’s 1991 Constitution, “a person elected to the office of President shall assume that office on the day upon which he is declared elected by the Returning Officer, or upon the date that his (her) predecessor’s term of office expires, whichever is the latter.”
NEC hosted a meeting of the Political Parties Liaison Committee, PPLC, on Monday, which addressed concerns raised by the two political parties and suggested measures to improve the conduct of the March 27 run-off between Rtd Brig. Julius Maada Bio of SLPP and Samura Kamara of APC.
– Mar. 20, 2018 @ 11: 49 GMT /
Tags: Ibrahim Sorie Koroma Lansan Dumbuya Lawyer seeks Court Injunction to Stop Sierra Leone's March 27 Presidential run-off Vote
