Sierra Leone’s opposition challenger Julius Maada Bio secured his first term in office as a civilian Wednesday when he was declared the winner of a controversial presidential run-off — but his opponent vowed to contest the result.
Bio, a former soldier who briefly led a military junta more than two decades ago, won 51.81 percent of ballots in last month’s election, according to official results.
He beat incumbent Samura Kamara, who secured 48.19 percent of the vote, ending a decade in power for Kamara’s All Peoples’ Congress (APC) in the poor West African nation.
Shortly after the announcement, Bio was sworn in as president, handed a symbolic command baton by the country’s top judge.
But hopes for a smooth transition were soon thrown into doubt after Kamara said he was rejecting the National Election Commission’s results.
“We dispute the results and we will take legal action to correct them,” Kamara said in a televised address, calling on his supporters to stay calm.
The results, he added, “do not reflect the party’s many concerns about massive ballot box stuffing, supernumerary votes, and other irregularities.”