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Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio is poised for re-election as the country’s electoral commission announced that he is in the lead, with 60 percent of the votes counted.

After the first round of voting on Saturday, Bio secured 55.86 percent of the ballots cast, surpassing the 55 percent threshold required for victory. His main rival, Samura Kamara, trailed behind with 41.53 percent, equivalent to 793,751 votes, according to the commission.

Final results, which are expected within the next 48 hours, will officially confirm Bio as the winner of the election, said Mohammed Kenewui Konneh, the election commission chief.

With approximately 3.4 million registered voters, twelve men and one woman vied for the position of president. However, Bio’s main competition came from Kamara, a member of the All People’s Congress (APC) party.

Bio, a former leader of a coup in the 1990s, barely defeated Kamara in a runoff election in 2018. During his first term as president, the 59-year-old Bio prioritized education and women’s rights.

Meanwhile, Kamara, 72, a former foreign and finance minister, is currently facing charges of misappropriating public funds during his tenure as foreign minister. He claims that the case against him is politically motivated.

Although the election itself was generally peaceful, security forces forcefully dispersed opposition supporters at the APC party headquarters in Freetown on Sunday night. The situation calmed down by Monday, but sadly, a woman lost her life during the unrest, according to an APC spokesman.

The spokesman explained that the woman, who was a nurse in a medical unit located on the ground floor of the headquarters, was killed in the chaos. Her grief-stricken son, Ibrahim Conteh, demanded justice and pleaded for answers on who took his mother’s life.

The police did not confirm the death but admitted to firing tear gas canisters to disperse a disruptive crowd blocking the roads.

A witness of the incident, Abu Bakar Kargbo, expressed his horror, likening the scene to a terrifying movie. He described the situation as progressively intensifying, with live rounds eventually being fired.

Inside the APC headquarters, reporters discovered bloodstains and bullet holes, indicating the severity of the violence that occurred. Party secretary, Hannah, who preferred not to share her last name, returned to the headquarters early Monday morning to retrieve her belongings. She recounted the terrifying experience of hearing gunshots and tear gas, leaving her traumatized and in tears.

Sierra Leoneans now await the final results, while the country hopes for a peaceful and democratic transition of power.

By Africanews correspondent, Hauwa M.