Security forces have fired teargas around the headquarters of Sierra Leone’s main opposition party, the All Peoples’ Congress, in the capital, Freetown. Party Officials called the attack unprovoked. The incident has further heightened an already tense situation as people await the outcome of Saturday’s elections. The opposition has warned it will not accept any attempt to alter the outcome of the poll. Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris reports from Freetown, Sierra Leone. Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/ Check out our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/aljazeeraenglish/ #SierraLeone #SierraLeoneElection2023 #SierraLeoneVotes2023 #AlJazeeraEnglish
Voting is under way in Sierra Leone’s tightly contested presidential and parliamentary elections amid a cost-of-living crisis. Polling stations opened later than the scheduled time of 7am in the capital, Freetown, AFP journalists said on Saturday. They were due to close at 5pm (17:00 GMT). Some 3.4 million people are registered to vote, 52.4 percent of whom are under 35 years old, according to an electoral commission spokesman. 13 candidates are vying for the presidential post, including incumbent Julius Maada Bio, with a crippling economic crisis, which sparked deadly riots last year, on top of the poll agenda. Presidential candidates must secure 55 percent of valid votes for a first-round […]
With inflation rising steeply in Sierra Leone, so too is the price of food, gas and electricity. Sixty percent of the population lives in poverty, and the increasing cost of living is worsening the financial struggles people already face. Earlier this month, a crisis erupted in the West African nation. Hundreds of people took to the streets in frustration at the economic hardship. Protests turned violent and led to deaths. Will the violence end peacefully before a general election next year? The president of Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Bio, talks to Al Jazeera. Subscribe to our channel http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/AJEnglish Find us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera Check our […]
Anti-government protesters in Sierra Leone have clashed with police in the streets of the capital, Freetown, as tensions over the rising cost of living turned deadly in the West African nation. In a national broadcast on Wednesday, Vice President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh said that “lives of both policemen and civilians were lost”, without giving further details. He announced a nationwide curfew from 3pm local time (15:00 GMT). The protesters demanded the departure of President Julius Maada Bio, who was elected in 2018 and still has 10 months left in his term. The demonstrators chanted “Bio must go” as they made their way through the capital, Freetown. Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem […]
