Image copyright Reuters Image caption Julius Maada Bio has ruled the country briefly before

Sierra Leone's opposition candidate, Julius Maada Bio, has rushed to take his presidential oath in a hotel after winning the run-off election.

Mr Maada Bio is a former military ruler who briefly ruled the country in 1996.

He narrowly beat ruling party candidate Samura Kamara, who has alleged irregularities and says he will challenge the outcome in court.

Mr Maada Bio was sworn in on Wednesday, less than two hours after being declared the winner of Saturday's vote.

Under Sierra Leone's constitution, the presidential vote winner must be sworn in on the same day as he is declared the victor.

"[This is] the dawn of a new era," he said. "The people of this great nation have voted to take a new direction."

In a televised address, Mr Kamara said: "We dispute the results and we will take legal action to correct them." He also urged his supporters to stay calm.

Mr Maada Bio, leader of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), won just under 52% of the vote.

He has already ruled the country, albeit briefly.

How did Maada Bio come to power before?

Mr Maada Bio, now 53, was part of a group of soldiers who overthrew the government in 1992 when he was in his late 20s.

Then, in January 1996, he staged a palace coup, arguing that his boss, Capt Valentine Strasser, wanted to renege on the promised handover to an elected civilian government.

His supporters point to that to call him the "father of democracy".

But his critics cite human rights violations witnessed while he was in power, for which he has taken "collective responsibility".

During his rule, which lasted just over two months, he appointed Mr Kamara as his finance minister.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Opposition supporters rallied in the capital Freetown

Who is he replacing?

The outgoing president, Ernest Bai Koroma, has stepped aside after serving two five-year terms for the All People's Congress (APC). He had hand-picked Mr Kamara as his preferred successor.

Mr Maada Bio lost to Mr Komora in the previous election.

Support for the SLPP and the APC is largely based on ethnicity. The SLPP, the nation's oldest party, is most popular in the southern and eastern parts of the country.

A hard road ahead

By Umaru Fofana in Freetown

Julius Maada Bio was sworn in rather strangely on Wednesday night - at a hotel instead of State House, and less than two hours after he was declared president-elect.

Sierra Leone has what many consider a defective transition arrangement. The constitution says the winner of a presidential election must be sworn in "on the same day" he is declared the winner. To have sworn him after midnight could have triggered a constitutional challenge, after a sometimes acrimonious campaign.

Many believe Julius Maada Bio is the most popular of the candidates who ran for the presidency. But his eventual win was a combination of that popularity and former President Ernest Bai Koroma stepping on many toes.

His administration's response to the Ebola and mudslide crises amid allegations of corruption angered many in the capital, Freetown.

On top of this, even with the country's deep-rooted ethnic politics, tribalism came to the fore more prominently than ever before. Many members of Mr Maada Bio's Mende ethnic group - one of the country's largest - almost worship him, while most ethnic Temnes sided with the APC.

With a narrow outcome, the new president has vowed to heal the divisions, and rebuild the country's broken educational system. He has a tough job ahead of him, made harder by the fact that his party does not have a majority in parliament.

What are the main issues?

Sierra Leone is one of the world's poorest countries, with a fragile economy and widespread corruption.

It suffered heavily during a devastating Ebola outbreak in 2014. The disease killed nearly 4,000 people yet there are still only 200 doctors serving the country of seven million people.

The country also went through a brutal civil war between 1991 and 2002, which killed more than 50,000 people.

Mr Maada Bio has promised to heal the country's divisions and rebuild the country's broken education system.

What happened in the first round?

Mr Maada Bio received 43.3% of the vote in the first round, falling short of the 55% needed for an outright win.

The run-off was delayed by the High Court after a member of the ruling APC party alleged there had been electoral fraud during the first vote.

However, the court rejected a petition by the APC seeking an indefinite suspension of the election to allow for a forensic audit of the original 7 March vote.

After the second round, Mr Kamara said the APC still had "many concerns" about the legitimacy of the results.</s>Julius Maada Bio Sworn In As New President Of Sierra Leone

Opposition candidate and former military junta leader Julius Maada Bio of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) was sworn in as Sierra Leone’s new president on Wednesday night, barely a few hours after the elections commission announced his victory in a tight run-off poll.

According to the 1991 constitution of the country, immediately after the National Electoral Commission (NEC) announces the winner of the election, the president-elect should take the oath of office.

Dressed in traditional white robes, Maada Bio was sworn in just before midnight at a hotel in the capital Freetown, raising in the air the Bible upon which he swore the oath of office to the cheers of supporters.

“This is the dawn of a new era. The people of this great nation have voted to take a new direction,” he said in a speech following the short ceremony in which he made an appeal for national unity. “We have only one country, Sierra Leone, and we are all one people.”

Maada Bio won a narrow victory with 51.81 percent of more than 2.5 million valid ballots, while his main challenger, Samura Kamara, of the ruling All People’s Congress (APC) garnered 48.19 percent, according to official results released by the commission.

This is the fourth election the West African country has conducted since the 11-year rebel war that ravaged the country was declared over in 2002. Sixteen political parties contested in the election, with more than 3.1 million voters registered across the country.

Maada Bio, 53, was the military head of Sierra Leone in 1996 under the National Provisional Ruling Council.

He was the SLPP presidential candidate in the 2012 election but defeated by his predecessor Ernest Bai Koroma of the ruling APC party.

The post Julius Maada Bio Sworn In As New President Of Sierra Leone appeared first on 360Nobs.com.

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This post was syndicated from 360Nobs.com. Click here to read the full text on the original website.</s>Julius Maada Bio sworn in as new Sierra Leone president

Opposition candidate and former military junta leader, Julius Maada Bio was sworn in as Sierra Leone’s new president late on Wednesday, just hours after the elections commission announced his victory in a tight run-off poll.

 He now faces the difficult task of rebuilding the impoverished West African nation’s economy that was dragged down by the world’s deadliest Ebola epidemic and a global slump in commodity prices, Reuters reports.

Representing the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), Maada Bio won 51.81 percent of votes cast in the March 31 poll, according to results announced by the National Electoral Commission (NEC) on Wednesday.

He defeated former foreign affairs minister and ruling All People’s Congress (APC) candidate Samura Kamara, who had held a slight lead based on partial results earlier in the day but in the end garnered 48.19 percent.

Dressed in traditional white robe, Maada Bio was sworn in just before midnight at a hotel in the capital Freetown, raising in the air, the Bible upon which he swore the oath of office to the cheers of supporters.

“This is the dawn of a new era. The people of this great nation have voted to take a new direction,” he said in a speech following the short ceremony in which he made an appeal for national unity.

“We have only one country, Sierra Leone, and we are all one people.”

 Maada Bio, who briefly ruled Sierra Leone as head of a military junta in 1996, replaces outgoing President Ernest Bai Koroma, who could not seek re-election due to term limits.

The largely peaceful election process has come as a relief for the country of 7 million people, who in the 1990s endured a brutal civil war fueled by the diamond trade and notorious for its drug-addled child soldiers and punitive amputations.

SLPP supporters packed into the NEC headquarters on Wednesday, and following the announcement of the election results party officials urged the Maada Bio’s backers to remain calm.

“Celebrate responsibly. Do not disturb your neighbour. Victory for all men, not victory for some. Everyone in, no one out,” the party’s campaign manager Ali Kabba said.

Opposition supporters, confident of victory, sang and danced in the streets of Freetown on Wednesday evening hours before Maada Bio was officially declared the winner.

“I feel happy about the results. I am here because my president Julius Maada Bio has won the election in this country,” said Adolfus Kargbo, among a group of SLPP supporters chanting Maada Bio’s name.

The post Julius Maada Bio sworn in as new Sierra Leone president appeared first on BusinessDay : News you can trust.

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This post was syndicated from BusinessDay : News you can trust. Click here to read the full text on the original website.</s>APC dethroned in Sierra Leone; Julius Maada Bio sworn in as president

The new leader briefly ruled the country as head of a military junta in 1996.

The post APC dethroned in Sierra Leone; Julius Maada Bio sworn in as president appeared first on Premium Times Nigeria.

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This post was syndicated from Premium Times Nigeria. Click here to read the full text on the original website.</s>Former military leader Julius Maada Bio has been declared winner and subsequently sworn in as president of Sierra Leone after a tight run-off vote, NAN is reporting. Bio, leader of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), succeeds president Ernest Bai Koroma who had been in office since September 2007 and has completed his two five-year terms. Bio, […]

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This post was syndicated from BellaNaija. Click here to read the full text on the original website.</s>Julius Bio sworn in as new Sierra Leone president

Opposition candidate and former military junta leader Julius Bio was sworn in as Sierra Leone’s new president late on Wednesday, just hours after the elections commission announced his victory in a tight run-off poll. He now faces the difficult task of rebuilding the impoverished West African nation’s economy that was dragged down by the world’s […]

The post Julius Bio sworn in as new Sierra Leone president appeared first on The Herald Nigeria Newspaper.

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This post was syndicated from The Herald Nigeria Newspaper. Click here to read the full text on the original website.</s>Opposition candidate and former military junta leader Julius Maada Bio was sworn in as Sierra Leone's new president late on Wednesday, just hours after the elections commission announced his victory in a tight run-off poll.

[FREETOWN] Opposition candidate and former military junta leader Julius Maada Bio was sworn in as Sierra Leone's new president late on Wednesday, just hours after the elections commission announced his victory in a tight run-off poll.

He now faces the difficult task of rebuilding the impoverished West African nation's economy that was dragged down by the world's deadliest Ebola epidemic and a global slump in commodity prices.

Representing the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), Maada Bio won 51.81 per cent of votes cast in the March 31 poll, according to results announced by the National Electoral Commission (NEC) on Wednesday.

He defeated former foreign affairs minister and ruling All People's Congress (APC) candidate Samura Kamara, who had held a slight lead based on partial results earlier in the day but in the end garnered 48.19 per cent.

Dressed in traditional white robes, Mr Maada Bio was sworn in just before midnight at a hotel in the capital Freetown, raising in the air the Bible upon which he swore the oath of office to the cheers of supporters.

"This is the dawn of a new era. The people of this great nation have voted to take a new direction," he said in a speech following the short ceremony in which he made an appeal for national unity.

"We have only one country, Sierra Leone, and we are all one people."

"EVERYONE IN, NO ONE OUT"

Mr Maada Bio, who briefly ruled Sierra Leone as head of a military junta in 1996, replaces outgoing President Ernest Bai Koroma, who could not seek re-election due to term limits.

The largely peaceful election process has come as a relief for the country of 7 million people, who in the 1990s endured a brutal civil war fueled by the diamond trade and notorious for its drug-addled child soldiers and punitive amputations.

SLPP supporters packed into the NEC headquarters on Wednesday, and following the announcement of the election results party officials urged the Maada Bio's backers to remain calm.

"Celebrate responsibly. Do not disturb your neighbour. Victory for all men, not victory for some. Everyone in, no one out," the party's campaign manager Ali Kabba said.

Opposition supporters, confident of victory, sang and danced in the streets of Freetown on Wednesday evening hours before Mr Maada Bio was officially declared the winner.

"I feel happy about the results. I am here because my president Julius Maada Bio has won the election in this country," said Adolfus Kargbo, among a group of SLPP supporters chanting Mr Maada Bio's name.</s>The opposition candidate Julius Maada Bio has won in a narrow victory in a run-off election to become Sierra Leone’s next president, according to official results by the country’s electoral body.

The National Electoral Commission announced at 10:00pm local time that Maada Bio of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) won 51.8 percent of a total of over 2.5 million ballots cast in the March 31 vote, beating out the ruling All People’s Congress candidate Samura Kamara, who garnered 48.1 percent.

Kamara, a former foreign affairs minister, and Maada Bio, who briefly ruled Sierra Leone as head of a military junta in 1996, were vying to replace outgoing President Ernest Bai Koroma, who cannot seek re-election due to term limits. Brigadier Julius Maada Wonie Bio is a Sierra Leonean politician and the 5th and current president of Sierra Leone since April 4, 2018 and he is just 53 years old. Have you read Trendiee Today? Click here to read</s>By Our Correspondent The long-awaited day and moment arrived and passed by tonight (April 4) in Sierra Leone when Julius Maada Bio of the Sierra Leone (...)</s>Like Nigeria, Ghana, The Gambia …and now Sierra Leone

The train, which took off in Nigeria with opposition candidate winning the presidential election, has berth in Ghana, Gambia and Liberia. Sierre Leone joined the league on Wednesday with opposition leader Julius Maada Bio being sworn in as president.

Sierra Leone’s opposition challenger Julius Maada Bio secured his first term in office as a civilian Wednesday when he was declared the winner of a controversial presidential run-off, which his opponent, Samura Kamara, vowed to contest the result.

With this feat, Bio has joined a trend which started in Nigeria. Then opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari defeated Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. The trend soon spread to Ghana. The Gambia and Liberia are also now in the hands of hithertho opposition parties.

Bio, a former soldier who briefly led a military junta more than two decades ago, won 51.81 per cent of ballots in last month’s election, according to official results.

He beat former ruling party candidate Kamara, who secured 48.19 per cent of the vote, ending a decade in power for Kamara’s All Peoples’ Congress (APC) in the poor West African nation.

Cheers and songs erupted among thousands of supporters of Bio and his Sierra Leone People’s Party, who were gathered in the capital Freetown on Wednesday evening. Shortly after the announcement, Bio was sworn in as president, handed a symbolic command baton by the country’s top judge.

The official results of the vote had been delayed by a dispute over the method of tallying that left ballot papers from 11,000 polling stations uncounted.

The campaign was characterised by ugly verbal exchanges and sporadic violence with Bio accusing the APC of using police intimidation against his party.

Police reported a string of attacks on candidates and supporters on both sides since the first round on March 7 – which Bio narrowly won – after which Kamara declared that “the safety and security of Sierra Leone is in our hands”.

Bio, a straight-talking retired brigadier, has blasted the government’s closeness to China, while Kamara had presented himself as a continuity candidate.

Although international observers reported some “issues” during the March 31 second round that saw heightened security measures, the monitors declared themselves “satisfied” with the overall conduct of the poll.

Earlier Wednesday, Kamara supporters marched in Freetown, tearing down Bio posters and alleging “foreign meddling” in the vote, an AFP reporter said. Security forces erected a cordon around Bio’s SLPP party headquarters, where hundreds of supporters had already begun celebrating victory ahead of the expected official results.

A total of 3.1-million people were registered to vote in the first presidential poll since a 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak that killed 4 000 people. Kamara’s party’s term was also marred by a mudslide that struck Freetown last year, killing hundreds of people.

One of the world’s poorest nations despite huge mineral and diamond deposits, Sierra Leone is recovering only gradually from war and disease. Its economy remains fragile, with corruption widespread in the former British colony.

Political loyalties are often divided along ethnic lines and traumatic memories of the 1991-2002 civil war run deep.

The U.S. Department of State congratulated the new President and Vice President of Sierra Leone.

A statement by its embassy said: “The National Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone has declared Retired Brigadier Julius Maada Bio and Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh of the Sierra Leone People’s Party the winners of the run-off election. As a longstanding friend, the United States congratulates the people of Serra Leone on their active and peaceful participation in the presidential elections held on March 31, which is a testament to the strength and resilience of Sierra Leone’s democracy. We look forward to working with President Julius Maada Bio to further strengthen our bilateral relationship.

“We commend the National Electoral Commission for administering an orderly, well-managed process. We also recognise the important role Sierra Leone’s political parties and civil society organisations played in these elections, and we welcome the statements by international and domestic observer missions affirming the credibility of the election. Now is the time for all leaders to demonstrate their continued commitment to the constitution, Sierra Leone’s democratic institutions, and her people. “Finally, we would like to recognise President Ernest Bai Koroma for his commitment to an orderly and timely political transition.

“We are committed to working closely with the Government of Sierra Leone and we look forward to advancing our longstanding mutual interests in economic development, trade, health, and the strengthening of democratic institutions.”

But hopes for a smooth transition were soon thrown into doubt after Kamara said he was rejecting the National Election Commission’s results.

“We dispute the results and we will take legal action to correct them,” Kamara said in a televised address, calling on his supporters to stay calm. The results, he added, “do not reflect the party’s many concerns about massive ballot box stuffing, supernumerary votes and other irregularities.”

He said his APC party intends to take “appropriate legal action.”

Any registered voter has seven days to petition the Supreme Court over the results.

Bio (born May 12, 1964) is a Sierra Leonean politician and the fifth and current president of Sierra Leone since

As the candidate of the main opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party, Bio defeated Samura Kamara of the ruling All People’s Congress party in the runoff in the 2018 Sierra Leone presidential election. Bio succeeded Ernest Bai Koroma as president, who was constitutionally ineligible for the presidency because he had served the maximum two five year terms.

Bio is a retired Brigadier in the Sierra Leone Military. He was the military Head of State of Sierra Leone from January 16, 1996 to March 29, 1996 under the National Provisional Ruling Council.

He was the SLPP presidential candidate in the 2012 presidential election, having won the nomination at the July 31, 2011 SLPP national convention held at the Miatta Conference Hall in Freetown.

Bio led a military coup in Sierra Leone on January 16, 1996, ousting his close friend and the leader of the NPRC junta government, Captain Valentine Strasser, following a division within senior members of the NPRC junta.

In his first public speech after the coup, Bio justified his actions as a means to return Sierra Leone to a democratically elected civilian government and end the Sierra Leone civil war.

He fulfilled his promise to return Sierra Leone to democracy; and he handed power to Ahmad Tejan Kabbah of the SLPP following the latter’s victory in the 1996 presidential election.

After retiring from the military in 1996, Bio moved to the United States, where he earned a Masters Degree in International Affairs from American University in Washington, D.C. He also served as the president of International Systems Science Corporation, a consulting and investment management firm based in the United States.

He is an ethnic Sherbro and a native of Bonthe District in Southern Sierra Leone. Bio is a practicing Roman Catholic Christian. His wife Fatima is a practicing Muslim, and an ethnic Mandingo from Koidu, Kono District in eastern Sierra Leone.

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Julius Maada Bio is sworn in as President of Sierra Leone.