The Chair of the Commonwealth Observer Group (COG), H.E. Prof Yemi Osinbajo, former Vice President of Nigeria has deployed five teams of Observers across SierraLeone to cover the upcoming elections.
Osinbanjo deployed the observers in Freetown, Sierra Leone on Thursday ahead of the election scheduled to hold on the 22nd June, 2023.
The Commonwealth Observer Group had launched election observation activities in Sierra Leone with a call for peaceful elections that will reflect the will of the people.
The Chair of the Commonwealth Observer Group (COG), H.E. Prof Yemi Osinbajo, former Vice President of Nigeria, at a press conference, urged all citizens in Sierra Leone to do their part to ensure that a peaceful and credible process takes place during elections on 24 June.
No fewer than 17 registered political parties are contesting local council, parliamentary and presidential elections, with approximately 3.37 million registered voters expected at the polls. It will be the fifth time the Commonwealth is observing national elections in Sierra Leone since the end of the Civil War in 2002.
However, Osinbanjo while speaking Prof. Osinbajo said: “The eyes of more than 2.5 billion people of the Commonwealth – more than 60% of whom are young people under the age of 30 – will be upon Sierra Leone. Watching, in solidarity and in hope.
“The peaceful and prosperous future of the nation lies in your hands. And in that future, violence, division and hate cannot play a part. The hard lessons that history has taught us through the tragic loss of lives and livelihoods – we cannot afford to repeat.”
Prof Osinbajo, who arrived in Freetown on 17 June, is leading a group of 11 other international experts to observe and assess the election process, emphasised that the Observer Group has no executive role. Its function is not to interfere with, but to independently observe the pre-election environment, polling day and in the post-election period. The group will then provide recommendations to improve the process.