By our Staff Writer
The Mano River Union (MRU) has praised Sierra Leone for successfully holding the just-ended Presidential, Parliamentary, mayor, and ward councilor elections, saying that “generally, the process was orderly and peaceful without any significant incidents.”
The MRU, which deployed 25 election observers for the March 7 polls, said it was “indeed a very big challenge to hold four elections at the same time.”
“And from all indications we see this as a signal of the growing maturity of democracy in Sierra Leone. I want to use this opportunity to congratulate the government and people of Sierra Leone for this milestone,” according to a preliminary report released by the MRU in Freetown and signed by the Union’s Secretary General Mrs. Medina Wesseh,
The deployment of the Observer is in line with the revised 15th Protocol of MRU on Peace, Security, Defense, and Good Governance adopted by the Head of States on June 2012 in Conakry, Guinea,
The report said the deployment of an Observation Mission is part of the key action of the MRU.
Secretary General Wesseh said expressed the MRU’s confidence in the democratic future of Sierra Leone and other MRU Member States.
The MRU Mission is said to have observed the processes for the actual opening of polls, voting and closing procedures of the polls at the different polling centers visited across Sierra Leone.
It said the 7thMarch, 2018 were carried out in a free, fair, transparent, peaceful and credible manner.
Meanwhile, the MRU has commended Sierra Leone’s National Elections Commission (NEC) “for its leadership and the quality of the electoral operations.”
The sub-regional body also expressed thanks and appreciation to President, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma for his good work in upholding the tenets of democratic good governance.
“We want to assure that we will remain engaged until end of this process,” the MRU report said.