By Jonathan Leigh.
The first group 28 European Union long term
election observers are being deployed in Sierra Leone. The observers arrived in Freetown, Sierra Leone on 16th July to
observer the forthcoming presidential and
parliamentary elections scheduled to take place on 11
August.
After two days of extensive briefing in Freetown, teams
of observers are being deployed to their areas of
responsibility. The 14 teams of observers will be
based in all of the districts including: Bo, Bombali,
Bonthe, Kailahun, Kambia, Kenema, Koinadugu, Kono,
Moyamba, Port Loko, Pujehun and Tonkolili. Two further
teams are stationed in Freetown.
“The work of the long term observers in the field is
incredibly important for the EU Election Observer
Mission(EOM) as it enables the mission to conduct a
comprehensive analysis of the election process
throughout the country including preparations that are
currently underway. We shall be observing all areas of
the election process and our observers will remain in
the field until after election day to observe the
post election process as well” said Marie Anne Isler
Beguin, the Chief Observer of the EU EOM.
Over the next few weeks the observers will meet with,
among others, election officials, candidates and
representatives of civil society, and will report
their observations back to the core team in Freetown.
A group of short term observers are due to arrive in
the country closer to election day. They will also receive
an extensive briefing and then deployed with their
colleagues across the country.
A delegation of Members of the European Parliament will also be joining the mission nearer election day in order to observe voting, counting, and the tabulation of results.
After election day, the EU Election Observation
Mission will issue a statement of preliminary findings
and conclusions. A final report will be issued at a
later stage.
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