The result? Incumbent President Ernest Bai Koroma of the All Peoples Congress (APC) held onto power and will lead the country for the next 5 years. He won convincingly by gaining 58.7% of the vote in the first round.
So how did we learn the result? Well not being told by the media. We had to wait for the official returning officer Dr Christiana Thorpe to make the announcement. There was much uncertainty about the timing and on Wednesday there was a false alarm. Last night though I received a text message from VSO informing me that the result was due at 5.30pm. I went straight home to tune to the Sierra Leonean Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) radio station.
Eventually at 6.10 Dr Thorpe started her press conference. Standing on my balcony I could hear that everyone else was listening to this too. When the result came a huge cheer filled the air. This was followed by cars honking horns, pots and pans being banged, whistles, vuvuzelas and general noise - at high levels.
We had been advised not to go out when the result came in case any trouble erupted. I am happy to report that in my area of town all was peaceful and I hope that this was the case all over the country. In the words of an election song - Wi no wan violence na Salone!
Read the BBC report here
Here are a couple of the election posters
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| The Winner - President Koroma APC |
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| The Rival - Julius Maada Bio SLPP |
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