TheCable

Sierra Leone’s National Electoral Commission (NEC) has released 50 percent result of its presidential, legislative and local government elections held on Wednesday.

According to the official results, Samura Kamara, presidential candidate of the ruling All People’s Congress (APC), is leading with 43.20% of the processed votes.

Kamara, who has so far polled 566, 113 votes, is closely followed by Maada Bio of opposing Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), with 564, 687votes at 43.09%

Mohamed N’fah Alie-Conteh, NEC chairman, said another batch of result will be released when votes have been processed to 75 percent.

Alie-Conteh explained that the released results “are partial and do not represent the complete outcome of the election.

He said: “Tally figures will again be released when results from 75 percent of polling stations in all districts have been cleared.

“Full, certified results will be announced soon.”

NEC registered about 3.17 million voters in the country’s 16 administrative districts, out of which 1.3 million votes have been processed.

If none of the 16 candidates contesting the presidency gets 55 percent of the votes cast in the first round, the two fron will go for the run-off balloting two weeks after declaration of the first round results.

The winner will be the nation’s fifth president, and will replace outgoing President Ernest Bai Koroma.