Sierra Leone: President Mr. Julius Maada Bio has emerged victorious in Sierra Leone’s highly contested presidential election, as officially confirmed by the election commission. However, his primary opponent wasted no time in dismissing the outcome.

The Chief Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Mohamed Kenewui Konneh, announced that Mr. Bio, aged 59, secured re-election with a majority of 56.17 percent in the vote held on Saturday. Mr. Samura Kamara, the prominent rival from the All People’s Congress (APC) party, secured the second position with 41.16 percent of the votes.

“By the powers invested in me, I hereby certify that Bio Julius Maada is duly elected president,” Mr. Konneh stated.

Mr. Kamara, 72, noted that he “categorically” rejected the results. “It is a sad day for our beloved country. It is a frontal attack on our fledgling democracy,” Mr. Kamara posted on Twitter.

“These results are NOT credible, and I categorically reject the outcome so announced by the electoral commission,” Mr. Kamara added.

The election commission’s announcement came after supporters of both parties had claimed to have won in recent days, with Kamara saying that he was on an “irreversible path to an overwhelming victory”. He also alleged that security forces had opened fire on a celebration at his party’s headquarters, though police denied having fired live bullets.

Mr. Bio had defeated Kamara, a former foreign minister, in the 2018 election.

Vote tallying had already been disputed by the APC, which condemned in a statement an alleged lack of inclusiveness, transparency, and responsibility by the election commission. It had said it “will not accept these fake and cooked-up results”.

In a follow-up statement, it alleged “over-voting” in some areas and said the party “continues to reject” the “fabricated results” and “reaffirms our victory.”

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