Further political crisis in Sierra Leone as opposition APC suspends cooperation with Tripartite Committee – The Sierra Leone Telegraph

Sierra Leone Telegraph: 15 June 2024:

Sierra Leone’s main opposition party, the All People’s Congress Party (APC), has announced that it is suspending its membership and participation in the Tripartite Committee appointed by the international community. The decision follows the controversial presidential and parliamentary elections in June 2023, which independent election observers and observers say were significantly marred by irregularities, fraud and abuse of office.

The purpose of the tripartite committee, composed of the ruling SLPP, the opposition APC and the international community, is to investigate the country’s post-war elections, review electoral laws, systems and processes, and make recommendations to prevent future electoral fraud.

The APC’s decision to suspend its cooperation with the Tripartite Committee comes just weeks before the committee is due to release its much-awaited report, which could decide the fate of the government.

In its statement released yesterday, June 14, 2024, the APC said: “You will recall that the APC supported the 24^th Results of the June 2023 multi-party elections, but decided to participate in the internationally moderated cross-party dialogue in October 2023 to be held at the Bintumani Hotel.

“This was an attempt to promote peace and national cohesion and to find an amicable solution to the political impasse that existed at the time. Regrettably, the SLPP government has deviated from its promise to take the necessary steps to ensure the full implementation of the National Unity Agreement.

“In addition, the government has also supported and encouraged the ECSL’s refusal to release important data and information needed by the committee to examine the final outcome of the June 24 meeting.^th 2023 elections, including the 60% of announced results.”

Many have questioned the seriousness of the SLPP government and President Bio in setting up the tripartite committee. The APC’s decision to withdraw from the investigation process will surely convince opposition supporters and undecideds that the country’s electoral commission and the ruling party have something to hide.

The APC statement also states: “Section 4(2) of the Terms of Reference of the Tripartite Committee specifically states that the Committee ‘shall request access to all relevant documents, records and information necessary to conduct its review.’”

“This mandate clearly empowers the Committee to request all relevant documents from ECSL and all other EMBs to ensure a comprehensive review.

“Despite our best efforts and the interventions of development partners and friends of Sierra Leone, ECSL continues to obstruct the process by failing to provide the requested documents.

“The APC party wishes to reiterate that it is crucial to this verification process to require the ECSL commissioners to publish their results at polling station level, supported by the Results Reconciliation Forms (RRFs) to substantiate their announced figures.”

The APC’s decision to boycott the electoral investigation followed the visit of Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye to Freetown, where he is believed to have conveyed the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government’s call to President Bio to ensure that the Tripartite Committee can complete its investigations with the full support of the government, including granting access to all documents and data related to the June 2023 elections.

The difficulty for the Electoral Commission, however, is that the integrity of the polling station-level results of the June 2023 elections has been significantly compromised and is nonexistent at many polling stations.

This poses a serious dilemma for the Trilateral Committee as it finalises its report, which is expected to be published later this month.

A likely outcome of this latest political crisis in Sierra Leone is that the opposition APC may have to approach the Supreme Court, under the observation and supervision of international judges, to seek an order compelling the Electoral Commission to either publish all disaggregated election results or hand them over to the Trilateral Committee.