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Sierra Leone: Opposition leader speaks of attempted assassination
Sierra Leone elected a president, parliament and local governments on Saturday. photo
© TJ Bade/AP/dpa
Police officers are said to have surrounded the headquarters of the opposition party APC, for which Samura Kamara ran in the presidential elections. Previously, he had claimed victory for himself.
A day after elections in West African Sierra Leone, presidential candidate Samura Kamara accused the security forces of attempting to assassinate him. Police officers surrounded the headquarters of the opposition party APC, whose candidate Kamara is considered the only promising challenger to incumbent President Julius Maada Bio. “Live ammunition and tear gas were fired at my offices by government forces,” Kamara wrote on Twitter. “This is an assassination attempt.” To do this, he shared images of holes in a wood veneer and people sitting on the floor of a room. The police initially did not comment.
The alleged assassination is said to have happened when Kamara was giving a press conference while his supporters were celebrating in front of the party building. Previously, both the APC and Bio’s ruling SLPP party had claimed victory in Saturday’s election, each citing their own numbers. Official results of the vote, in which parliament and local councils were also elected, are not expected for a few days.
The APC suspected election manipulation even before the vote and called for protests. Saturday’s voting was marred by delays in the arrival of polling materials. That’s why people couldn’t vote. The head of the electoral commission acknowledged this on Sunday, but said only a small proportion of polling stations were affected. He called on the parties not to give their supporters “false hopes”.