However, his main rival quickly rejected the results.

Chief Electoral Commissioner Mohamed Kenewui Konneh announced on Tuesday that Bio, aged 59, won with 56.17 percent of the vote on Saturday.

Samura Kamara, the top candidate from the All People’s Congress (APC), came in second with 41.16 percent.

The threshold for victory was set at 55 percent, narrowly avoiding a second round.

Kamara, aged 72, categorically rejected the results, calling it a sad day for the country and an attack on democracy.

The election commission’s announcement followed competing claims of victory by both parties.

The APC criticized the lack of inclusiveness, transparency, and responsibility by the electoral commission, raising concerns about the credibility of the results.

European Union observers also expressed concerns about transparency and communication from the electoral authority, while the United States highlighted a lack of transparency in the vote counting process.

President Bio, a former coup leader, addressed the nation and called for peace following the provisional results.

The election took place amidst economic challenges, including high unemployment, inflation, and poverty rates in Sierra Leone.

The opposition party had hoped to leverage the country’s economic hardships for electoral success.

With over half the population living in poverty, Sierra Leone faces significant socio-economic hurdles that require attention in the coming term.

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The security forces also will be on hand in case of violent protests, Usman Baba, Nigeria’s Inspector-General of Police, told reporters.

“The Nigeria police with the support of other security agencies have perfected plans to deploy in a coordinated and collaborative manner,” he said.

The West African nation is set to elect a new president as it is confronted by a myriad of security problems: an Islamic extremist insurgency linked to the Islamic State group in the northeast, armed rebels in the northwest, and secessionists in the southeast.

The security challenges bring a “critical, serious threat to Nigeria’s democracy,” according to Bulama Bukarti, a senior fellow with the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.

“The non-state armed groups are going to do whatever they can do — using every arm in their arsenal — to see that Nigeria’s election gets disrupted,” Bukarti said.

A series of attacks have targeted election commission offices and security

At least two security operatives will guard each of the more than 175,000 polling stations across the country’s 36 states, Nigeria’s police chief said.

In southeastern Nigeria, a series of attacks already have targeted dozens of election commission offices and security posts, raising fears that voters will be afraid to cast their ballots on election day.

The southeast region is home to a separatist movement blamed for the recent violence.

“We have made adequate arrangements to mark our presence in those areas in a lot of ways,” said police chief Baba, adding that more officers are being deployed there and that tents will be used in place of the destroyed offices.

Nigeria’s security forces are also anticipating post-election violence once results are announced.

“We are prepared to confront any situation that will need special intervention,” he said.

The police chief also expressed concerns about the ongoing shortage of cash and petrol in many Nigerian states. There already have been violent protests and attacks on banks, and the situation could mean more work for already overstretched security forces, he said.

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Barely 11% of voters turned out in the first round of parliamentary elections last month, boycotted by opposition Islamists and ignored by many Tunisians disillusioned with their leaders.

Ten candidates secured seats in the legislature even though not a single voter cast a ballot for them, simply because they ran unopposed. In seven constituencies, not even one candidate bothered to run.

President Kais Saied is pinning his hopes on Sunday’s second round of voting, which will wrap up his sweeping redesign of Tunisian politics that began when he suspended the previous Parliament in 2021.

The new body will have fewer powers than its predecessor and risks being little more than a rubber stamp for Saied. The president and many Tunisians blamed the previous parliament, led by the Islamist party Ennahdha, for political deadlock seen as worsening the country’s protracted economic and social crises.

Some Ennahdha officials have been jailed and the party is refusing to take part in the parliamentary elections, and has held repeated protests.

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