Incumbent Bio re-elected president in Sierra Leone Putin offers them 3 options: How to proceed with the Wagner mercenaries

In the West African country of Sierra Leone, President Julius Maada Bio has been re-elected despite a severe economic crisis. The electoral commission of the small coastal state with 8.8 million inhabitants declared the 59-year-old the winner on Tuesday with 56.17 percent of the vote. His challenger Samura Kamara (72) lost with 41.16 percent of the vote.

Bio’s SLPP party and Kamara’s APC have dominated the country along ethnic and regional lines for decades. A total of 13 candidates competed. Bio had already won against Kamara in 2018, at that time in a second round.

Sierra Leone, which is about the size of Bavaria, experienced one of the worst civil wars in Africa from 1991 to 2002, killing tens of thousands of people. In 2014, an Ebola outbreak plunged the country into another multi-year crisis. Since then, the economy has not recovered. Many people, especially in rural areas, live in extreme poverty. 60 percent of young people are unemployed, the price of basic food has multiplied.

Bio, who ruled two months after a military coup in 1996 and helped transition to the country’s first free elections in decades, is revered by many as the “father of modern democracy”. His government, in office since 2018, introduced free education and promoted equality, science and the country’s infrastructure. At the same time, Bio is also criticized for his actions against opponents. More than 20 protesters and six police officers were killed in the violent crackdown on protests by state security forces in August. (sda/dpa)